The nature of H2 and H3

From: MCLSSAA2@...
Message: 9376
Date: 2001-09-11

--- In cybalist@..., Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote about H1.

I also think that H1 was sometimes the glottal stop and sometimes [h].

But what was the nature of H2 and H3? There seems to be a tendency to
treat them as [x] (= German "ch" in "ach") and its voiced equivalent.
But how much is that is motivated by a need to find an easy way to
pronounce them in linguistic discussions? I am tempted to ptonounce
them as epiglottal fricatives as Arabic h-with-dot-below (as in
[h2aram] = "sacred") and ayin. In my mouth this [h.] and ayin tend to
impart an a-flavor and an o-flavor respectively to an adjacent [e],
same as PIE reconstructed H2 ans H3 often do, but [x] and its voiced
equivalent do not.