Gheada Donalbai*PT

Date of birth: 25/06/2025

Sex: Female

Colour: Black Tortie Harlequin

EMS: NFO f 02

Gheada is a phonetic phenomenon in Galician whereby the voiced velar fricative or plosive g is articulated as a voiceless velar fricative, similar to the Spanish j. This phenomenon is predominant in the western part of the Galician linguistic territory.

Gheada is not considered a mistake in Galician. The Royal Galician Academy recognises it as a dialectal variant, though it is considered more appropriate for informal than formal contexts. It can be used freely in speech, but never in writing.

The earliest reliable evidence of gheada dates to 1833, though the linguistic phenomenon appears to predate this and postdate 1758.

Throughout history, gheada has been considered rustic and is an important sociolinguistic marker that reveals the speaker's place of origin and social class.