G (letter): Difference between revisions
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'''g''' begins consonant clusters: '''glûe, ignŏre''' ('''g''' sounded, cf. '''gnôme''' ''garden'' = '''Nõme''' ''Alaska''), '''grêen'''. | '''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'''. | 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'''. | ||
In the French ending -'''gue''', the -'''ue''' is silent: '''lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue''' (similarly with -'''que'''). | In the French ending -'''gue''', the -'''ue''' is silent: '''lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue''' (similarly with -'''que'''). | ||
Revision as of 10:57, 24 December 2008
G, g is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the seventh letter of most variants of the Latin alphabet, being placed after F and before H: for instance it is the case in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈdʒiː], that is gee as in gee up.
Use in English
For GH in English see 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 phonemes); or it is pronounced like j in Jûne ([d] sound followed by the 'zh' sound: [dʒ]).
Hard g, the voiced k: goòd, dóg, guàrd, gúm, ágony, guést, bíg, píg, wríggle, squíggle, égg, flág, ság, Péggy, 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, 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 as in exággerate.
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 *Háringây.
g has the 'zh' sound only in the name of the former French colony Nigér (*Nìzhér). Compare the name of the river and delta, also spelt Nîger, and the former British colony Nigêria, both of which have the normal soft 'j' sound of g - and a different î sound.
Before suffixes, hard g is doubled to keep the preceding vowel short: dígging, pégging, lágging, fóggy, dóggie, dógged, béggar, rúgger 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.
In the French ending -gue, the -ue is silent: lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue (similarly with -que).
It also combines to form the eccentric digraph gh.