[æ]→[h]Certainty: 3/5Commonality: 2/5
Near-open front unrounded vowel to Voiceless glottal fricative
In extreme vowel reduction, an unstressed [æ] can lose both its voicing and its oral aperture, leaving only glottal frication [h]. This is a marginal process — true devoicing of [æ] typically yields a voiceless [æ̥] rather than [h], but in sufficiently reduced or whispered speech the distinction collapses toward [h].
Phonetic Effects
Devoicing, Vowel Reduction
Language Examples
[æ] (unstressed)→[h]— Marginal reduction in highly unstressed or whispered environments; more typically yields [æ̥] (voiceless vowel) rather than true [h].
Related Transformations
More Germanic Shifts
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