[ʒ]→[h]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 3/5

The phonetic transformation from the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ to the voiceless glottal fricative /h/ is a documented lenition process. This shift involves both devoicing, where vocal fold vibration ceases, and a significant posteriorization, moving the place of articulation from the postalveolar region to the glottis. It represents a weakening of the consonant, reducing articulatory effort.

Phonetic Effects

Devoicing, Posteriorization, Lenition

Language Examples

Related Transformations

More Romance Shifts

Sources & References

• Rottet, K. J. (1996). The phonology and morphology of Louisiana French: A case study in language contact and language death. Mouton de Gruyter.
• Carmichael, C. (2008). The phonology of Louisiana French. In A. Valdman, J. Picone, & R. V. Van den Berg (Eds.), French and Creole in Louisiana. University Press of Mississippi.
• Dajko, N. (2009). The sociophonetics of /h/ in Louisiana French. In J. Reaser, E. Wilbanks, K. Wojcik, & W. Wolfram (Eds.), Language Variety in the New South: Contemporary Perspectives on Change and Variation. The University of North Carolina Press.
• Reaser, J., Wilbanks, E., Wojcik, K., & Wolfram, W. (Eds.). (2018). Language Variety in the New South: Contemporary Perspectives on Change and Variation. The University of North Carolina Press.