Gheada () is a term in Galician to describe the debuccalisation of the

voiced velar stop The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototyp ...

to a, usually voiceless, back fricative, most often a voiceless pharyngeal fricative . Although it is found throughout Galicia, its use is declining in Lugo and eastern Ourense, and it is rarely encountered in education or broadcasting. While it is neither considered incorrect nor stigmatised, it is generally considered appropriate only for familiar rather than formal domains. Occasionally, the sound is articulated as a voiceless velar fricative , as in Castilian ''

jamón ''Jamón'' (, pl. ''jamones'') is a kind of dry-cured ham produced in Spain. It is one of the most globally recognized food items of Spanish cuisine. It is also regularly a component of tapas. Most ''jamón'' is commonly called ''jamón serrano ...

''.

Orthography

The pronunciation is sometimes indicated by the digraph '' gh'': * ''gato'' (; "cat") > * ''pago'' (; "payment") >

Phonetic realizations

Pharyngeal realizations of the ''gheada'' are the most common, but there's considerable variation. Speakers from inland villages tend to prefer

uvular Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not prov ...

, pharyngeal, or glottal fricatives, which are often

voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer ...

between vowels. In contrast, speakers from coastal villages prefer

velar Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...

, pharyngeal, or occasional uvular fricatives, which are always voiceless.

Possible systems

There are three different systems of ''gheada''. In the most widespread one, is pronounced as a voiceless fricative in any position. For example: This system is found in the major cities of Galicia:

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the '' Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

, and

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, as well as in the eastern part of the

Province of A Coruña The province of A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical en, link=no, Corunna) is the northwesternmost province of Spain, and one of the four provinces which constitute the autonomous community of Galicia. This province is surrounded by the At ...

. Another system has both and voiceless fricative allophones: In this system, found in the western parts of Ourense and Lugo, northern areas of

, and south-eastern areas of

, is only found after a nasal consonant in the middle of words. Speakers often have trouble recognizing and as allophones of the same phoneme. A third system has merged into , eliminating the allophone completely: This system is found in the western parts of Galicia, in

Fisterra Fisterra (; es, Finisterre) is a municipality in the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Fisterra. Fisterra is on Cape Finisterre, the final destination for many pilgrims on the Wa ...

and the Ría de Muros.

References

Sources

* *

External links