PHONETIC CHARACTER. In English, g has the values (1) of a voiced guttukal explosive made by voiced breath being checked between the body of the tongue and the palate, as in got, organ, glad; (2) of the so-called 'soft' or palatal g (d + zh), as in generous, gentle (this sound is sometimes aided orthographically by the addition of a d, as in bridge, judge) ; (3) in some words taken from French it has the value of zh, the voiced, broad sibilant as in mirage, rouge; (4) it is sometimes silent before n and m, as gnaw, sign; (5) in the combination ng at the end of syllables it denotes merely that the n is a guttural and not a dental nasal; (6) the combination gh has frequently the sound of f, as slough, or of w, as bough. The voiced ex plosive g comes chiefly from (1) Indo-Ger. gh, as in Eng. long, Ger. long, Lat. longus, Gk. 6o)ax6r, Skt. dirghas ; (2) the g of words which have come into English from other languages, as grain, Lat. granum. The following are some of the changes between g and other letters: Acre, Lat. ager, Gk. ei-ypor, or again knee, Lat. genu;
kin, Lat. genus; yester (day), Ger. gestern, Lat. hesternus. There is a constant tendency toward palatalization of g, as in the Old English par ticiples in y, corresponding to Germanic pa_ A modern instance of this tendency is seen in the pronunciation of Alorgen as Moryen in the so-called Berliner Dialekt of Germany. The Normans in England could not sound the w, and so substituted for it gu. This gives doublets in English like guard and ward, guarantee and warranty. G sometimes disappears, as in Eng_ enough, Ger. genug ; and Eng. master, Lat. ma gister.
As A SYMBOL. G in music is the fifth tone of the natural diatonic scale of C, and in the treble clef is written on the second line, or in the first space above. In the bass clef it stands in the first line or in the fourth space.