In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages, the letter ⟨g⟩ is used in different contexts to represent two distinct phonemes that in English are called hard and soft ⟨g⟩. The sound of a hard ⟨g⟩ (which often precedes the non-front vowels ⟨a o u⟩ or a consonant) is usually the voiced velar plosive [ɡ] (as in gain or go) while the sound of a soft ⟨g⟩ (typically before ⟨i⟩, ⟨e⟩, or ⟨y⟩) may be a fricative or affricate, depending on the language. In English, the sound of soft ⟨g⟩ is the affricate /dʒ/, as in general, giant, and gym. A ⟨g⟩ at the end of a word usually renders a hard ⟨g⟩ (as in "rag"), while if a soft rendition is intended it would be followed by a silent ⟨e⟩ (as in "rage").
History This alternation has its origins in a historical palatalization of /ɡ/ which took place in Late Latin, and led to a change in the pronunciation of the sound [ɡ] before the front vowels [e] and [i]. Later, other languages not descended from Latin, such as English, inherited this feature as an orthographic convention. The Scandinavian languages, however, have undergone their shift independently.
English In English orthography, the pronunciation of hard ⟨g⟩ is /ɡ/ and that of soft ⟨g⟩ is /dʒ/; the French soft ⟨g⟩, /ʒ/, survives in a number of French loanwords (e.g. regime, genre), [ʒ] also sometimes occurs as an allophone of [dʒ] in some accents in certain words. In words of Greco-Latinate origin, the soft ⟨g⟩ pronunciation occurs before ⟨e i y⟩ while the hard ⟨g⟩ pronunciation occurs elsewhere. In some words of Germanic origin (e.g. get, give), loan words from other languages (e.g. geisha, pierogi), and irregular Greco-Latinate words (e.g. gynecology), the hard pronunciation may occur before ⟨e i y⟩ as well. The orthography of soft ⟨g⟩ is fairly consistent: a soft ⟨g⟩ is almost always followed by ⟨e i y⟩. The notable exceptions are gaol (now more commonly spelled jail) and margarine (a French borrowing whose original hard ⟨g⟩ softened for unknown reasons, even though the name Margaret has a hard ⟨g⟩). The soft pronunciation of algae, the only one heard in North America, is sometimes cited as an exception, but it is actually conformant, ⟨ae⟩ being an alternative digraph spelling for a vowel in the ⟨e i y⟩ family. Though this pronunciation is listed first in some British dictionaries, hard pronunciation due to misinterpretation of orthographic ⟨ae⟩ is widespread in British English and is listed second or alone in some British dictionaries. In some words, a soft ⟨g⟩ has lost its trailing ⟨e⟩ due to suffixing, but the combination ⟨dg⟩ would imply the soft pronunciation anyway (e.g. fledgling, judgment, pledgor). Digraphs and trigraphs, such as ⟨ng⟩, ⟨gg⟩, and ⟨dge⟩, have their own pronunciation rules. While ⟨c⟩, which also has hard and soft pronunciations, exists alongside ⟨k⟩ (which always indicates a hard pronunciation), ⟨g⟩ has no analogous letter or letter combination which consistently indicates a hard ⟨g⟩ sound, even though English uses ⟨j⟩ consistently for the soft ⟨g⟩ sound (the rationale for the spelling change of "gaol" to "jail"). This leads to special issues regarding the coherence of orthography when suffixes are added to words that end in a hard-⟨g⟩ sound. This additionally leads to many words spelled with g ⟨e i y⟩ and pronounced with a hard ⟨g⟩, including what may be the most common g ⟨e i y⟩ word "get". It has also resulted in the file format GIF having two possible pronunciations, with both hard ⟨g⟩ and soft ⟨g⟩ in common use.
Suffixation When suffixes are added to words ending with a hard or soft ⟨g⟩ (such as -ed, -ing, -er, -est, -ism, -ist, -edness, -ish(ness), -ily, -iness, -ier, -iest, -ingly, -edly, and -ishly), the sound is normally maintained. Sometimes the normal rules of spelling changes before suffixes can help signal whether the hard or soft sound is intended. For example, as an accidental byproduct of the rule that doubles consonants in this situation after a short vowel, a double ⟨gg⟩ will normally indicate the hard pronunciation (e.g. bagged is pronounced /ˈbæɡd/, not as /ˈbædʒd/). There are occasional exceptions where alternations between the hard and soft sound occur before different suffixes. Examples are analogous (hard) vs. analogy (soft); similarly, prodigal with prodigy. These are generally cases where the entire word, including the suffix, has been imported from Latin, and the general Romance-language pattern of soft ⟨g⟩ before front vowels, but hard ⟨g⟩ otherwise, is preserved. Sometimes a silent letter is added to help indicate pronunciation. For example, a silent ⟨e⟩ usually indicates the soft pronunciation, as in change; this may be maintained before a suffix to indicate this pronunciation (as in changeable), despite the rule that usually drops this letter. A silent ⟨i⟩ can also indicate a soft pronunciation, particularly with the suffixes -gion and -gious (as in region, contagious). A silent ⟨u⟩ can indicate a hard pronunciation in words borrowed from French (as in analogue, league, guide) or words influenced by French spelling conventions (guess, guest); a silent ⟨h⟩ serves a similar purpose in Italian-derived words (ghetto, spaghetti). A silent ⟨e⟩ can occur at the end of a word – or at the end of a component root word that is part of a larger word – after ⟨g⟩ as well as word-internally. In this situation, the ⟨e⟩ usually serves a marking function that helps to indicate that the ⟨g⟩ immediately before it is soft. Examples include image, management, and pigeon. Such a silent ⟨e⟩ also indicates that the vowel before ⟨g⟩ is a historic long vowel, as in rage, oblige, and range. When adding one of the above suffixes, this silent ⟨e⟩ is often dropped and the soft pronunciation remains. While ⟨dge⟩ commonly indicates a soft pronunciation, the silent ⟨e⟩ may be dropped before another consonant while retaining the soft pronunciation in a number of words such judgment and abridgment. Also, the word veg, a clipped form of vegetate, retains the soft pronunciation despite being spelled without a silent ⟨e⟩ (i.e., pronounced as if spelled vedge). Similarly, soft ⟨g⟩ is sometimes replaced by ⟨j⟩ in some names of commercial entities, such as with "Enerjy Software", or "Majic 105.7" in Cleveland, Ohio and some names commonly spelled with ⟨j⟩ are given unusual soft ⟨g⟩ spellings such as Genna and Gennifer.
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