G (letter): Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Ro Thorpe
mNo edit summary
imported>Ro Thorpe
No edit summary
Line 10: Line 10:
Like '''c''', it has two sounds, hard before back vowels, and usually soft (= '''j''') before front vowels. Unlike '''c''', though, whose soft equivalent is '''s''', and which has two hard equivalents in '''k''' and '''q''', there is no other letter that sounds like hard '''g'''.
Like '''c''', it has two sounds, hard before back vowels, and usually soft (= '''j''') before front vowels. Unlike '''c''', though, whose soft equivalent is '''s''', and which has two hard equivalents in '''k''' and '''q''', there is no other letter that sounds like hard '''g'''.


Hard '''g''', the voiced '''k''': '''goòd, dóg, guàrd, gúm, ágony, guést, bíg, píg, wríggle, squíggle, égg, flág, ság, Péggy, regâle'''.
Hard '''g''', the voiced '''k''': '''goòd, dóg, guàrd, gúm, ágony, guést, bíg, píg, wríggle, squíggle, égg, flág, ság, Péggy, píggy, regâle'''.


Words beginning with '''gu'''- plus a front vowel, '''e, i''' or '''y''', have the hard sound; the '''u''' is written to show this, and is itself silent: '''guîde, guínea, guéss, guést, guŷ, guílty''' (cf. hard final-sound '''g''' followed by silent -'''ue''' in '''lêague, plâgue''') - similarly, hard '''gh'''- in '''ghôst, ghoûlish, ghāstly'''.
Words beginning with '''gu'''- plus a front vowel, '''e, i''' or '''y''', have the hard sound; the '''u''' is written to show this, and is itself silent: '''guîde, guínea, guéss, guést, guŷ, guílty''' (cf. hard final-sound '''g''' followed by silent -'''ue''' in '''lêague, plâgue''') - similarly, hard '''gh'''- in '''ghôst, ghoûlish, ghāstly'''.

Revision as of 18:56, 10 October 2011

This article is developing and not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

G, g is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the seventh letter of most variants, being placed after F and before H, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈdʒiː], that is gee as in gee up.

Use in English

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Use in English
Alphabetical word list
Retroalphabetical list  
Common misspellings  

See also GH

g is pronounced in the throat, a voiced k as in kíng (compare gâte and Kâte: the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings); or it is pronounced like j in júg (d sound followed by the zh sound: IPA ).

Like c, it has two sounds, hard before back vowels, and usually soft (= j) before front vowels. Unlike c, though, whose soft equivalent is s, and which has two hard equivalents in k and q, there is no other letter that sounds like hard g.

Hard g, the voiced k: goòd, dóg, guàrd, gúm, ágony, guést, bíg, píg, wríggle, squíggle, égg, flág, ság, Péggy, píggy, regâle.

Words beginning with gu- plus a front vowel, e, i or y, have the hard sound; the u is written to show this, and is itself silent: guîde, guínea, guéss, guést, guŷ, guílty (cf. hard final-sound g followed by silent -ue in lêague, plâgue) - similarly, hard gh- in ghôst, ghoûlish, ghāstly.

Soft g, sounding like j, is found before front vowels e, i and y medially often preceded by a d following a short vowel: George, gín, gŷroscope, géntleman, geriátric, giráffe, Gërmany, hédge, lódge, cúdgel, brídge, egrêgious, édgy, pâge, Nîgel, wâge.

Soft g is rarely doubled, but it is in exággerate and Réggie (cf. Péggy, hard g).

But g before e and i is hard in some words, often at the beginning: gíve, gét, gíbbon, gízzard, gíg, gíld gold (= guíld society), gíll fish (cf. soft g in gíll quarter pint = Jíll person), gíddy, begín, and beginning the last syllable in Háringèy = Hárringây.

g has the simple zh sound (without the usual d sound preceding it) only in the name of the former French colony Nigér (*Nìzhér). The name of the river and delta, also spelt Nîger, and the former British colony Nigêria both have the normal j (-dzh-) sound of g - and a different î sound.

g is always soft in penultimate position before e: áverage, bínge, although there is an alternative spelling of renègue, renège, keeping its hard g sound.

For a hard g before final e, a French-style ending is required, -gue, where the -ue is silent: lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue (similarly with -que).

Before suffixes, hard g is doubled to keep the preceding vowel short: dígging, pégging, lágging, fóggy, dóggie, dógged, béggar, rúgger, Mággie (cf. Még) and also finally in égg and in surnames: Clégg, Hógg = hóg animal, Wrágg = rág cloth, Rígg = ríg ship and before final s in Bíggs.

There is a soft g in dúngeon, *dúnjən, and díngy dirty, *dínjy; dínghy boat has the ng sound, with or without a g sound following it, depending on the speaker. Hard g is gh in spaghétti, ghôul, ghôst.

g begins consonant clusters: glûe, ignŏre (g sounded, cf. gnôme garden = Nõme Alaska), grêen.

Although pronounced after the í in ignŏre, g is often silent before n (cf. k in knôw) initially: gnôme, gnåw, or, more often, medially after a long vowel or diphthong: sîgn (cf. sígnal, g pronounced) resîgn, desîgn, impûgn, dèign, rèign monarch (= râin wet), campâign, and after an unstressed vowel in fóreign; and sometimes, from French, -gne: champâgne, colôgne. And there is a similar Italian g in laságnê *ləzányi.

g also combines to form the eccentric digraph gh.