What is "gheada"

n. (context phonetics English) the lenition of the voiced velar stop in the Galician language

Gheada in the Galician language is the debuccalization of the phoneme ( voiced velar stop) resulting in one of the following variations:

• voiceless pharyngeal fricative

• voiceless glottal fricative like the "h" in English "house"

At times, the sound is also articulated as voiceless velar fricative like in some Peninsular Spanish pronunciations of " jamón".

Gheada is predominant in Spain's Galician-speaking region and attested throughout its western half: in the provinces of A Coruña, Pontevedra, the westernmost part of Lugo, and the western half of Ourense. In the last two provinces, however, gheada is declining.