IPA phoneme \dʒ\

In Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/dʒ/** corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "job", and "jet" and the final one in "page" and "change".

/dʒ/ is a voiced consonant; its unvoiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /tʃ/.

/dʒ/ is an affricate; its fricative counterpart is IPA phoneme /ʒ/.

## Common words

**IPA consonants**

Initial pronunciation of **/dʒ/**
* as **j**: January - jam - Jamaica - James - Jane - Japan - jeans - job - John - join - joke - journey - July - jump - judge - June - just
* as **ge**/**gi**/**gy**: gentleman - gender - gene - general - generate - generation - genetic - Germany - George - Georgia - gesture - giant - gym

Mid-position pronunciation of **/dʒ/**
* as **j**: enjoy - injure - major - majority - object - project - reject - subject
* as **dj**: adjust
* as **ge**/**gi**/**gy**: agency - Algeria - Angela - apologise*BrE* - apologize - Argentina - Belgium - biology - danger - Egypt - energy - engineer - imagine - Los Angeles - Niger - Nigeria - refrigerator - original - region - Roger - strategy - technology - urgent - Virginia

* as **dge**: budget

* Oddity: as **ga**: margarine /ˌmɑːrdʒəˈriːn,*BrE* ˈmɑːrdʒərən/*AmE*

Final pronunciation of **/dʒ/**
* as **ge**: advantage - age - average - change - charge - college - huge - image - language - large - manage - orange - page - range - stage
* as **dge**: badge - edge - fridge - judge - knowledge

Homophones:

* genes - jeans; Jim - gym;

## /dʒ/ spelled with "d"

* education /ˌedʒʊˈkeɪʃən/
* gradual /ˈɡrædʒʊəl/
* graduate *(noun)* /ˈɡrædʒʊət/
* graduate *(verb)* /ˈɡrædʒʊeɪt/
* individual /ˌɪndɪˈvɪdʒʊəl/
* procedure /prəˈsiːdʒər/
* soldier /ˈsəʊldʒər/

### /d/ or /dʒ/

* cordial (friendly) /ˈkɔːrdʒəl,*AmE* ˈkɔːrdiːəl*BrE*/
* cordialality /ˌkɔːrdʒiːˈæləti,*AmE* ˌkɔːrdiːˈæləti*BrE*/
* fraudulent /ˈfrɔːdʒələnt,*AmE* ˈfrɔːdjələnt*BrE*/

## /dʒ/ spelled with "ch"

* sandwich: /ˈsænwɪtʃ, ˈsænwɪdʒ/
* spinach: /ˈspɪnɪtʃ, ˈspɪnɪdʒ/
* Greenwich /ˈgrɪnɪdʒ, ˈgrɪnɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪdʒ/
* Norwich /ˈnɒrɪdʒ, ˈnɒrɪtʃ/

## /dʒ/ spelled with "t"

* congratulations: /kənˌgrætʃəˈleɪʃənz/*BrE* *AmE* /kənˌgrædʒəˈleɪʃənz/*AmE*  The pronunciation with /dʒ/, even if it is recognized by Random House is regarded by some as informal or sloppy.

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

As **/dʒ/** doesn't exist in Spanish, many Spanish speakers pronounce the initial **"j"** in words like "job" and "jet" like **/j/**, i.e. they do not distinguish very well between "yet" and "jet" or "yob" and "job". Other sounds that they may confuse this sound with are **/tʃ/**, a sound which does exist in Spanish, and two other sounds which don't: **/ʃ/** or **/ʒ/**, especially as final sounds.

Unbelievably some Spanish speakers pronounce "g" as /h/ (actually [x]), just like in Spanish. It is not as uncommon as it should be to hear \*[ɪnˈtelɪxənt] (from *inteligente).*

The sentence "güi don nid nou eduqueishon" appears several times in Google, with several spellings for each word. You can find, for example, *eduqueichon, edukeichon, edukeison, eduqueiyon, ediukeishon* or *ediuqueishon*. Also, taking into account the actual accent of the song, *educaichon* or *educaishon*. However, the more "correct" transcriptions *eyuqueichon*, *ellukeishon* or *eyucaichon)* didn't appear in Google, but they are present in Twitter (7 times *eyuqueichon*, once *ellukeishon*, 3 times *eyucaichon).* This confirms that most Spanish speakers don't know that *education* has a /dʒ/ sound.

### Argentinian Spanish

Many Argentinians, particularly in Buenos Aires, pronounce "ll" and "y" as /ʃ/, while others pronounce them like /dʒ/ or /ʒ/. In any case, most Argentinians confuse /dʒ/, /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ in any position, not just final. Moreover, since standard pronunciation of Spanish "y" is similar to /j/ some Argentinians may also confuse /j/ and /ʃ/. For most Argentinians English /j/ is like Spanish "hi" as in "hielo" [ˈjelo].

## Notes and references

1. ↑ Dictionary.com, congratulation
2. ↑ Charles Harrington Elster, *The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker*, 1999, page 104. Available in Google Books.
3. ↑ In case you wondered, it means *We don't need no education*.
4. ↑ "s" for /ʃ/ is used only by Spaniards.
5. ↑ "y" for /ʃ/ is used by Argentinians and Uruguayans.
6. ↑ Search for "Shack el Destripador" (Jack the Ripper) or "Shenifer Lopez".
7. ↑ Search for "Nueva Shork" or "shu tub" (YouTube).

## See also

* Decoding the letter J
* Decoding the letter G
* Decoding the letter D
* Pronunciation exercises: /dʒ/ vs /tʃ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /dʒ/ vs /ʒ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /dʒ/ vs /j/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds