[ʕ]→[χ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 2/5

Voiced pharyngeal fricative to Voiceless uvular fricative

The transformation of the voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] (the letter ‘ayn) into the voiceless uvular fricative [χ]. This shift involves both devoicing and a slight retraction of the place of articulation.

Phonetic Effects

Devoicing, Place Shift

Language Examples

Maltese Semitic

[ʕ]→[χ]— Maltese 'għ' is realized as [ħ] or [χ] word-finally or before voiceless consonants due to final-obstruent devoicing.

Cypriot Arabic Semitic

[ʕ]→[χ]— Isolated from the mainland, pharyngeals in this dialect often shift to uvulars or are lost.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Semitic Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [ʕ] → [a] — Vocalization [ʕ] → [ʔ] — De-pharyngealization [b] → [p] — Voice Loss [b] → [v] — Spirantization

Sources & References

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