Gh (digraph)
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Gh is a digraph found in many languages.
[edit] Gh in English
In English, "gh" historically represented /x/ (the voiceless velar fricative). In modern English, "gh" is either silent or pronounced /f/ (see ough). When gh occurs at the beginning of a word in English, it is pronounced /g/ as in "ghost", "ghastly", "ghoul", "ghetto", "ghee" etc. In transcriptions from various languages, gh usually represents the voiced velar fricative (/ɣ/), a guttural. Like kh /x/, gh /ɣ/ may also be heard pharyngealized (like in several Caucasian and Native American languages). In transcriptions of Indo-Aryan languages such as Sanskrit and Hindi, as well as their ancestor, Proto-Indo-European, gh represents a voiced velar aspirated plosive /gʰ/ (often referred to as a breathy murmurred voiced velar plosive)
[edit] Gh in Irish
In Irish, Gh represents /ɣ/ (the voiced velar fricative) and /j/ (the voiced palatal approximant). Word-initially it represents the lenition of g, for example mo ghiall [mə jiəɫ] "my jaw" (cf. giall [gʲiəɫ] "jaw").
[edit] Għ in Maltese
This is a single letter in Maltese referred to as "Għajn". It is usually silent, but it is necessary to be included because it changes the pronunciation of neighbouring letters, usually lengthening the succeeding vowels. At the end of a word (when not substituted by an apostrophe), it is pronounced the same as ħ.
| Digraphs |
Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch C̱h c̱h Ck ck CÖ cö Cs cs Cu cu Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv |
|---|---|
| Trigraphs |
Dzs dzs Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch |
| Tetragraphs |
