We are only a little proud of it: our beautiful soft G. And we don’t just have that, because it even turns out to be the ‘original G’ of the Netherlands. Professor and linguist Marc van Oostendorp knows this, he has made a study of it. Also upper sloters used to speak with a soft G. Radio program Wakker! has proclaimed the ‘day of the soft G’ this Thursday.
“It is the first G that the Netherlands knew,” explains the professor. “The harder variant comes from further down the throat and is therefore not the first intuitive choice when speaking. The hard G arose later. Did you know that the soft G can also traditionally be found in the province of Utrecht?”
“The hard G is perceived as ugly, purely based on the sound.”
It is not only the most original G, our southern G also sounds a lot nicer, the professor knows. “A Chinese who understands nothing of the Dutch language only hears the sounds. The soft G then sounds much more pleasant. The hard version is experienced as ugly, purely based on the sound.”
And it’s not just for foreigners that the soft G sounds nicer than the hard one. Although General Civilized Dutch is usually accompanied by a hard G, the softer one appears to be more sympathetic, according to the professor. “It may have been a survey of a dating site, but it shows that partner seekers associate the soft G with sociability and Burgundians.”
“Soft G-ers are attractive relationship material.”
These are of course cliché images that people have with us southerners. But they are not completely out of the blue. “Your statement says something about your origin and that in turn has a reputation. That reputation ‘good food and fun make soft G-ers attractive relationship material.”
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