Minimal Pair List Consonants /g/ versus /j/, 37 pairs

The /g/ sound is spelled with <g> throughout. The /j/ sound is spelled <y> and is implicitly <u> in use .

The contrast only occurs initially in a small number of words, and is between a velar stop and a palatal semivowel, both voiced. In spite of the closeness of the tongue position, it does not cause any problems.

The mean density value is 0.8%. The list makes 24 semantic distinctions, a loading of 65%.

 	
gait Yate 	
gall yawl
  galls yawls
gamma yammer
  gammas yammers
gap yap
  gaps yaps
  gapped yapped
gate Yate
gaud yawed
Gaul yawl
  Gauls yawls
gauze yaws
gawk York 
gay yea
  gays yeas
gear year
  gears years
geld yelled
get yet
ghee ye
gob yob
  gobs yobs
goo you
Goole you'll
goose use
gore yaw
  gores yaws
  gored yawed
gore yore
gore your
  gores yours
got yacht
guard yard
  guards yards
guess yes
  guesses yeses

October

John Higgins

John Higgins retired in 2000, having spent the bulk of his career as a British Council English Language Officer working in Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and Yugoslavia and the last fifteen years in lectureships at Bristol University and then running an M.Sc. programme at Stirling University. His main field was EFL, with a special interest in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in which, together with Tim Johns of Birmingham, he was responsible for important developments in methods and materials. His publications include A Guide to Language Laboratory Material Writing, Universitetesforlaget, 1969, Computers and Language Learning, Collins, 1984, Language Learners and Computers, Longman, 1988, and Computers in English Language Learning, Intellect Press, 1992, together with numerous papers, reviews and pieces of software. He maintains a web page on minimal pairs and homographs for teachers of English pronunciation skills.