IPA phoneme \g\

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/g/** corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "get" and the final one in "bag" and "egg".

/g/ is a voiced consonant; its unvoiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /k/.

In strict IPA this symbol is what is called "script lowercase G" or "open tail g" (Unicode+0261), as opposed to "loop tail g": g. The normal "g" (Unicode+0067) has a loop tail only in fonts with serifs; in sans serif fonts the normal g is open tailed and Unicode+0067 and Unicode+0261 look identical. However, if you search in your browser for the sequence "g" you will not find the letter in the boxes with title "Strict IPA".

There is no risk of confusion if g is used, and the IPA has ruled that this symbol is also acceptable.

## Common words

**IPA consonants**

Initial pronunciation of **/g/**:

* game, garden, gave, gear, get, ghost, girl, give, go, good, got, grant , grass, gray,*AmE* great, green, grey,*BrE* group, guess, guitar

Final pronunciation of **/g/**:

* bag, big, bug, dialog,*AmE* dialogue, dog, drag, drug, egg, flag, fog, leg, log, pig

Mid -word pronunciation of **/g/**:

* with "g": again, ago, agree, begin, figure, lu**gg**age, organisation,*BrE* organization, program, programme,*BrE* regard, struggle, together
* with "x": auxiliary /ɔːɡˈzɪliːərɪ/, exam /ɪɡˈzæm/, example /ɪɡˈzɑːmpəl,*BrE* ɪɡˈzæmpəl*AmE*/, exhibit /ɪɡˈzɪbɪt/ - exhilarating /ɪɡˈzɪləreɪtɪŋ/ - exit /ˈeksɪt, ˈeɡzɪt/

## Assimilation

/sg/ may be pronounced /sk/ in some words: the /g/ is devoiced because /s/ is unvoiced.
Alternatively, the /s/ may become voiced, giving /zg/.

* disgusting /dɪsˈgʌstɪŋ, dɪˈskʌstɪŋ/
* disguise /dɪsˈgaɪz, dɪˈskaɪz/
* disgrace /dɪsˈɡreɪs, dɪˈskreɪs/
* Glasgow /ˈglæs goʊ, ˈglæskoʊ, ˈglæzgoʊ *AmE*, ˈɡlɑːzɡəʊ*BrE*/

Homophone
* disgust /dɪsˈgʌst, dɪˈskʌst/ - discussed /dɪˈskʌst/

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

Spanish speakers tend not to have any problems with **/g/** as an initial or mid-position consonant. However, as a final consonant, there's a very definite tendency to pronounce it as [x], a sound which corresponds to the letter "j" in Spanish,. Alternatively it may be pronounced as [ɣ]. I.e. instead of [ɛg] or [eg] for "egg", it'll more likely than not come out as [ex] or [eɣ].

Likewise, as a final consonant there's a difficulty in noticing the difference between **/g/** and **/k/**, i.e. many people need practice in differentiating words like "bag" and "back".

And, of course, at the back of every native Spanish speaker's mind is that nagging doubt as to whether to pronounce any "ge" or "gi" sequence they see as  /dʒ/, as in **age**...

## References

1. ↑ John Wells, The International Phonetic Alphabet in Unicode, 4 June 2012
2. ↑ Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary, disgrace
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *Dictionary.com Unabridged.* Random House, Inc., Glasgow.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Glasgow
5. ↑ The University of Iowa: Phonetics (Click on "fricativas" and then [x])
6. ↑ ibid. Click on "lugar", then on "dorsal" and then [ɣ].

## See also

* Decoding the letter G
* IPA phoneme /k/
* Pronunciation exercises: /k/ vs /g/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds