/g/as in go
Following your Spanish habit, you probably let 'g' soften into a loose, barely-touching approximant whenever it falls between vowels, as in 'again' or 'bigger', letting some air continue to flow through instead of fully…
What you probably do
Following your Spanish habit, you probably let 'g' soften into a loose, barely-touching approximant whenever it falls between vowels, as in 'again' or 'bigger', letting some air continue to flow through instead of fully sealing the back of your tongue against the soft palate.
How natives do it
Americans keep a complete, firm velar closure for 'g' in every position, including between vowels, briefly stopping all airflow before releasing with voicing throughout — there is no equivalent softening or approximant version of this sound in standard American English.
Why it matters
A weakened, approximant-like 'g' can sound mumbled or nearly silent to American listeners, blurring the clear stop-versus-glide distinction English relies on and occasionally making the voiced/voiceless contrast with 'k' harder to hear in words like 'bigger' versus 'bicker'.
Hear the difference
Words this touches
Spanish speakers often substitute /g, ɣ/.
How the mouth differs
Spanish g is a full stop only after a pause or nasal; between vowels and after most continuants it lenites to a soft velar approximant or fricative-like sound, with the back of the tongue barely touching the soft palate. American English g remains a true stop with full closure in every position, including between vowels, as in 'bigger' or 'again'.
Listen for the pattern
Carrying the Spanish lenition habit into English can make intervocalic g sound weak, breathy, or nearly disappear to American listeners, blurring the clear stop that English expects in words like 'bigger' or 'dragon' and occasionally weakening the voiced/voiceless distinction with k.
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Sources (2)
- Lenition in L2 Spanish: The Impact of Study Abroad on Phonological Acquisition. — Ratree Wayland, Rachel Meyer, Sophia Vellozzi et al., 2024
- Learners demonstrated progress in producing fricative-like variants of Spanish voiced stops during the study abroad program.
- Phonological gains made during immersion were not retained after learners returned to their home environment.
- Unlike native speakers, L2 learners never fully achieved approximant-like realizations of lenition regardless of exposure duration.
- Wells, J.C. (1982). Accents of English.