Gheada
Encyclopedia
Gheada is a linguistic phenomenon of Galician
which consists of pronouncing the phoneme /g/ (voiced velar occlusive or fricative
) as /ħ/ (voiceless pharyngeal fricative
) or, more commonly, /h/ (voiceless glottal fricative
), similar to the [h] in English
house. In certain coastal areas as well as some urban and suburban areas, it may even approach /x/ (voiceless velar fricative
), similar to the sound written in Spanish
as j.
Gheada is dominant, extending throughout the western half of the Galician-speaking region, in the Spanish provinces of A Coruña
, Pontevedra
, the westernmost part of Lugo
, and the western half of Ourense
. It is becoming less used, however, possibly due to pressure from Spanish, and is diminishing in Lugo and Ourense with time.
is sometimes used, rendering the phoneme
with the digraph
gh
. For example:
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
which consists of pronouncing the phoneme /g/ (voiced velar occlusive or fricative
Voiced velar fricative
The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in various spoken languages. It is not found in English today, but did exist in Old English...
) as /ħ/ (voiceless pharyngeal fricative
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative
The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is h-bar .-Features:Features of the voiceless pharyngeal fricative:...
) or, more commonly, /h/ (voiceless glottal fricative
Voiceless glottal fricative
The voiceless glottal transition, commonly called a "fricative", is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant phonologically, but often lacks the usual phonetic characteristics of a consonant...
), similar to the [h] in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
house. In certain coastal areas as well as some urban and suburban areas, it may even approach /x/ (voiceless velar fricative
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English....
), similar to the sound written in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
as j.
Gheada is dominant, extending throughout the western half of the Galician-speaking region, in the Spanish provinces of A Coruña
A Coruña (province)
The province of A Coruña is the most North-western Atlantic-facing province of Spain, and one of the four provinces which constitute the autonomous community of Galicia...
, Pontevedra
Pontevedra (province)
Pontevedra is a province of Spain along the country's Atlantic coast in southwestern Europe. The province forms the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia...
, the westernmost part of Lugo
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, and the western half of Ourense
Ourense (province)
Ourense is a province of northwestern Spain, in the southeastern part of the Autonomous Community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Pontevedra in the west, Lugo in the north, León and Zamora in the east, and by Portugal in the south. With an area of 7,278 square km it is the only...
. It is becoming less used, however, possibly due to pressure from Spanish, and is diminishing in Lugo and Ourense with time.
Orthographic representation
To indicate this pronunciation, for example in written dialogue, eye dialectEye dialect
Eye dialect is the use of non-standard spelling for speech to draw attention to pronunciation. The term was originally coined by George P. Krapp to refer to the literary technique of using non-standard spelling that implies a pronunciation of the given word that is actually standard, such as...
is sometimes used, rendering the phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
with the digraph
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
gh
Gh (digraph)
Gh is a digraph found in many languages.-English:In English, ⟨gh⟩ historically represented . In modern English, ⟨gh⟩ is almost always either silent or pronounced...
. For example:
- gato (cat) --> ghato ['ħato]
- pago (payment) --> pagho ['paħo]
External links
- Map of gheada and seseo use in Galician-speaking areas
- The Use of Gheada in Three Generations of Women from Carballo, A Coruña by Juan Antonio Thomas, the University at Albany