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On Wednesday, October 29, 2003, at 04:51 PM, Pavel Adamek wrote:
Is /h/ in Semitic languages voiceless [h] or voiced [h\]?AFAIK it's voiceless [h]. At least that's what it is in Modern Standard Hebrew.It seems slightly strange to me that the voiceless fricative is used to mark [a:]. (/j/ and /w/ are voiced, aren't they?) Would not be `ajin more appropriate? P.A.
I've gotten the impression that at least in Arabic, final |taa marbuuta| is pronounced at least a little as a (weaker than normal?) [h] when it isn't a [t]. [a:] and [h] seem to go together better to me than [a:] and [3] (`ayin) would, since [3] has the pharyngeal constriction that doesn't appear in [a:]. [a:] and [h] seem to have almost the same shape in the vocal tract except for what the vocal cords themselves are doing.
-Stephen (Steg) "[s@li:HO:]!"