Swedish: pronunciation G in ‘fegis’

J

Jaybeard

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English USA
cocuyo said:
There is of course an exception.

In any composed word, where the first one ends in n and the second starts with g. If the following letter is a hard vowel (aouå) or any consonant except j the n is pronounced as ŋ, followed by g, while if followed by a soft vowel (eiyäö) or j, the n is pronounced as n and the g takes a j sound.
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I know this thread is from a while ago - but I’ll throw this it anyway -

Any idea why the g in the word ‘fegis’ (coward) is pronounced hard in Swedish and not the usual soft?

Is it a loan word from another language?
 
    • Any idea why the g in the word ‘fegis’ (coward) is pronounced hard in Swedish and not the usual soft?

    Is it a loan word from another language?
     
    I love the -is suffix! It's a fun way of creating informal words. In an old slang dictonary I found Linkis for the Swedish town Linköping, and I'm always using it now when I talk about Linköping - but only with my family. I've never heard anyone else say Linkis.:)
    As AutumnOwl explained, the pronunciation depends on the word you add the suffix to.
    So fegis and dagis have a hard g, but bergis has a soft g. (Bergis is short for bergsäker)
    Here are a few more words ending in -is, just for the fun of it!
    Mellis
    Bakis
    Stammis
    Kändis
    Vanlis
    Doldis
    Nattis
    Föris
    //A
     
    Jaybeard said:
    Any idea why the g in the word ‘fegis’ (coward) is pronounced hard in Swedish and not the usual soft?

    Is it a loan word from another language?
    Click to expand...
    There are in fact a number of words where /g/ is followed by /e/ or /i/ but is still pronounced “hard”. This mainly occurs when the /e/ or /i/ is the first sound of a suffix attached to a word stem. Examples include fager (somewhat formal for ‘beautiful’) and ljuger (present tense of ljuga, ‘to lie’).

    (On the other hand, the g is soft in säger because it is already soft in the infinitive säga.)

    As a further example, the g is pronounced the same in:
    • dag (‘day’)
    • dager (‘light of day’ (excluding direct sunlight))
    • dagis (colloquial for förskola, previously daghem, ‘preschool/nursery school’)
    The same goes for fegis, which is formed from feg (‘cowardly’) and the same suffix as in dagis.

    The suffix -is is used to form colloquial nouns and adjectives derived from the regular word. Dozens of such words exist. Some of the most frequently used are godis (‘sweets/candy’), kompis (‘companion/friend’) and Grattis! (‘Congratulations!’). Also, humorously, Grammis (the Swedish version of “The Grammys”).
     
    Swedish Anna said:
    I love the -is suffix! It's a fun way of creating informal words. In an old slang dictonary I found Linkis for the Swedish town Linköping, and I'm always using it now when I talk about Linköping - but only with my family. I've never heard anyone else say Linkis.:)

    bergis has a soft g. (Bergis is short for bergsäker)
    Click to expand...
    When I lived in Linköping I heard students at the university use "Linkeboda" about Linköping, possibly people from Småland, as there are many placenames ending with -boda in that area.

    As for "bergis", for me it's the name of a bread (vallmofranska) used in Stockholm, in Göteborg and on the west coast we called it "barkis". Bergis och barkis - Brödinstitutet
     
    AutumnOwl said:
    When I lived in Linköping I heard students at the university use "Linkeboda" about Linköping, possibly people from Småland, as there are many placenames ending with -boda in that area.

    As for "bergis", for me it's the name of a bread (vallmofranska) used in Stockholm, in Göteborg and on the west coast we called it "barkis". Bergis och barkis - Brödinstitutet
    Click to expand...
    "Linkeboda"! Haha, I'll remember that.:)
     
    Segorian said:
    There are in fact a number of words where /g/ is followed by /e/ or /i/ but is still pronounced “hard”. This mainly occurs when the /e/ or /i/ is the first sound of a suffix attached to a word stem. Examples include fager (somewhat formal for ‘beautiful’) and ljuger (present tense of ljuga, ‘to lie’).

    (On the other hand, the g is soft in säger because it is already soft in the infinitive säga.)

    As a further example, the g is pronounced the same in:
    • dag (‘day’)
    • dager (‘light of day’ (excluding direct sunlight))
    • dagis (colloquial for förskola, previously daghem, ‘preschool/nursery school’)
    The same goes for fegis, which is formed from feg (‘cowardly’) and the same suffix as in dagis.

    The suffix -is is used to form colloquial nouns and adjectives derived from the regular word. Dozens of such words exist. Some of the most frequently used are godis (‘sweets/candy’), kompis (‘companion/friend’) and Grattis! (‘Congratulations!’). Also, humorously, Grammis (the Swedish version of “The Grammys”).
    Click to expand...
    Thanks for taking the time to answer my question so thoroughly! 🙏
     
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