Leyes fonéticas · Ley 11 · Consonantes

Initial I- (J-) and G before E, I

I- (consonantal), G (before E, I)

Por ahora, las explicaciones de esta sección están en inglés; los ejemplos están en todas las lenguas.

Español

j [x] before a back vowel; y-, h- or nothing before e

Francés

j, g [ʒ]

Italiano

gi, g [dʒ]

Portugués

j, g [ʒ]

Rumano

j [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)

Catalán

j, g [ʒ]

Qué ocurrió

Latin consonantal I [j] at the start of a word hardened into an affricate dʒ in spoken Latin, and G before E or I fell together with it. Italian kept dʒ, and so did Romanian before e and i (ger); before a back vowel Romanian has ʒ (joc). French, Portuguese and Catalan softened it to ʒ in the Middle Ages. Old Spanish had ʒ before back vowels, which later devoiced and moved back to [x] (as in ojo); before an e, Spanish instead weakened the sound to y or lost it.

Ejemplos

Latín	Italiano	Español	Francés	Portugués	Rumano	Catalán	Pariente en inglés
IOCUM‘joke → game’	gioco	juego	jeu	jogo	joc	joc	jocular
IUVENEM‘young’	giovane	joven	jeune	jovem	june	jove	juvenile
IŪDICEM‘judge (ro jude, historical)’	giudice	juez	juge	juiz	jude	jutge	judge
IUNCTUM‘joined’	giunto	junto	joint	junto	—	junt	joint
IANUĀRIUM‘January’	gennaio	enero	janvier	janeiro	—	gener	January
GELUM‘frost, ice’	gelo	hielo	gel	gelo	ger	gel	gelid

Descodificador

Italian gi- or French, Portuguese, Catalan j- at the start of a word? Romanian usually has j- too (gioco, jogo → joc). Spanish often has j- before o or u (gioco, jeu → juego), but before e look for y-, h- or no consonant at all (gelo → hielo, gennaio → enero).

Excepciones

Spanish is the irregular sister: y in ya (IAM) and yugo (IUGUM), y in yerno (GENERUM), nothing in hermano (GERMĀNUM) and enero. Spanish gente and general are learned or half-learned, which is why they keep g. Romanian june is literary (everyday tânăr), and its month names (ianuarie) are learned.

Míralo en acción: IOCUM

Qué ocurrió

Ejemplos

Descodificador

Excepciones

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