The ‘glottal fricatives’

Abstract

In the IPA chart which was the outcome of the IPA 1989 Kiel Convention, the glottal fricatives [h, ɦ] were included, as they were in previous charts. Unlike Kloster-Jensen (JIPA 1991: 42), I believe we were correct to leave [h, ɦ] as they were, in the space for glottal fricatives. In order to justify his belief that the [h] is not a glottal fricative, Kloster-Jensen recruits two good referees, Ladefoged (1962) and Brücke (1876). Other phoneticians also share the same belief, that the [h] is not a glottal fricative (for example, Pike 1943: 140, O'Connor 1973: 143–144), but many others do believe that [h] is really a glottal fricative. Here I want to give two good reasons why we should consider [h, ɦ] glottal fricatives, and leave them as they are in the IPA chart. The first reason is a general one, and is based on aerodynamic reasoning. The second is based on observations of productions of [h] in Hebrew, in Arabic and in Finnish.