Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 February 2009
A topic that was not discussed at the 1989 Kiel convention was the phonetic specification of [h]. Judging by its current place on the chart it appears to be a voiceless glottal fricative. But this is a misnomer, in that most forms of [h] have very little friction at the glottis. The vocal cords are apart and any turbulent airflow that there might be is due to what Pike (1943) calls “cavity friction” rather than local friction at a particular point, [h] has no more friction at the glottis than [f] or any other voiceless sound with a comparable airflow.