RP

h

Lower case h

Voiceless glottal fricative.

The soft palate is in its raised position and the vocal folds do not vibrate. It is always found before vowel sounds and it has the same articulation as that of the following vowel. When we pronounce it, friction is produced at the glottis.

Spelling
<h> help /help/
<wh> who /hu:/
Examples
help /help/
behind /bɪˈhaɪnd/
how /ˈ'haʊ/
who /hu:/
happy /ˈhæpi/
heaven /ˈhevn̩/
hip /hɪp/
hunt /hʌnt/
Hello, how are you? Hungry?

/həˈləʊ ˈhaʊ ə ju ˈhʌŋɡri/

Are you hoping to stay at a hotel?

/ə ju ˈhəʊpɪŋ tə 'steɪ ət ə ˌhəʊˈtel/

How high is that hill?

/ˈhaʊ 'haɪ z ðət 'hɪl/

Pronunciation

The soft palate is in its raised position and the vocal folds do not vibrate. It is always found before vowel sounds and it has the same articulation as that of the following vowel. When we pronounce it, friction is produced at the glottis.

PSp

x

Lower case x

Voiceless velar fricative

When we pronounce this sound, the back of the tongue, the active articulator , approximates to the velum, the passive articulator. The velum is in its raised position. So, the lung air cannot go out through the nasal cavity. Friction is produced when the lung air goes out through the passage formed by the articulators. The vocal folds do not vibrate during the production of this sound.

Spelling
<g>, when followed by <e>, <i>, <j>, when followed by <a>, <o>, <u> We can also find the spellings <je> and <ji>: <objeto>, <viaje>, <jinete>.
Examples
genio
coger
giro
agilidad
jarra
cajón
reloj
Juan junta juncos junto a la zanja.
Pronunciation

The back of the tongue approximates to the velum. Friction is produced when the lung air goes out through the passage formed by the articulators. The vocal folds do not vibrate.