| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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7. Pronunciation Challenges: Confusions and Controversy
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| § 90. G |
| The letter G was developed by the ancient Romans from the Roman letter C, which initially represented the sound (k) as well as (g). Eventually C came to be written G when used to represent (g), and C was then used exclusively for (k). In Latin and the Romance languages the pronunciation of (g) before e, i, and y gradually changed, resulting in the soft g pronounced like (j). After the Norman Invasion of Britain in the 11th century, Middle English scribes continued the use of soft g before e, i, and y in words borrowed from French. (In Modern French, g before e, i, and y is now pronounced (zh).) Also with the influence of French the symbol g began to replace the symbol &yogh;, which was the Irish form of Roman g that had been used to represent the hard g sound in Old English. In Modern English, words beginning with soft g before e, i, and y are generally of French or Latin origin, such as gelid and giblet, and words beginning with hard g before e, i, and y are generally of native English or Germanic origin, such as gear and give. Like c, g is generally hard before a, o, u, and consonants. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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