pronunciation of "g" after vowels

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littlepond
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pronunciation of "g" after vowels

Postby littlepond » 2017-05-04, 6:33

Hei everyone!

All the books I have read so far do not mention anything about "g" after (soft?) vowels, yet I am seeing that there must be some rule since, after all, "jeg" is pronounced as "jei". Does anyone know the rule and can let me know please?

Similarly, I believe that "høgskole" is also pronounced as "høyskole": again, why?

Thanks in advance!
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Babbsagg
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Re: pronunciation of "g" after vowels

Postby Babbsagg » 2017-05-04, 12:45

As far as I know that's highly dialectal. In a typically bokmål-writing south eastern region like Oslo, I think they pronounce it how it's taught to foreigners, without pronouncing the G as a consonant (pretty much identical to Danish in this case), while someone speaking one of the (typically nynorsk-writing) western dialects is likely to say "eg" with the G pronounced. It's similar with "og" I believe, the "G" pronounced in some dialects, but not in others.

The thing with Norwegian is that there's no official standardised pronunciation. None of the above is formally recognised as "correct" or "incorrect", in the sense that there'd be a standard for the entire country. The "Norwegian" we are taught in other countries is afaik the south eastern variety centred around Oslo.

At least that's my understanding, I'm open to corrections.
Thank you for correcting mistakes!

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Astrum
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Re: pronunciation of "g" after vowels

Postby Astrum » 2017-05-05, 22:20

The main rule is that "g" in Norwegian is pronounced /g/, except before i and y, where it's pronounced /j/. ("Jeg", "meg", "seg" and "deg" are all exceptions to this rule.)

As for "høgskole", it is a remnant of a spelling reform in 1959. Thus, most public "høgskoler" are called "høgskole" (as opposed to "høyskole" – cf. "Handelshøyskolen BI", which is a private university college), even in counties where bokmål is the official written standard. However, because "høy" is a lot more common than "høg" (in bokmål) these days, most Norwegians tend to say "høyskole" even if the official name is "høgskole", i.e. "Høyskolen i Oslo og Akershus" instead of "Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus".

littlepond
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Re: pronunciation of "g" after vowels

Postby littlepond » 2017-05-06, 15:31

Thanks a lot, everyone!
[flag=]hi[/flag] born in it, [flag=]en[/flag] first love, [flag=]fr[/flag] can discuss philosophy in it, [flag=]gu[/flag] can hear garba all night long, [flag=]it[/flag] can just about manage in it, [flag=]de[/flag] remnants of forgotten basics, [flag=]et[/flag] learning with zest, [flag=]sa[/flag] was in school and now want to re-learn, [flag=]no[/flag][flag=]sv[/flag][flag=]ja[/flag][flag=]ta[/flag] next on radar

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Raufoss
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Re: pronunciation of "g" after vowels

Postby Raufoss » 2017-05-08, 18:26

littlepond wrote:Thanks a lot, everyone!

Ja, tusen takk! :)

This information about the pronunciation of "g" after vowels is very useful. :y:
Vær snill og rett feilene mine

Native: English
Intermediate: Norsk [Bokmål]
Basic Knowledge: Italiano & español


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