As far as I know, margarine is the only word in which a 'g' is pronounced as 'j' though it is not followed by 'e', 'i', or 'y'. What causes the unorthodox pronunciation?
2 Answers
The OED says:
N.E.D. (1905 ) gives as the pronunciation only (mā·ɹgărīn), with /-g-/ ; this pronunciation, which became rare in the second half of the 20th cent., probably underlies the nickname Maggie Ann (see maggie n. 4). N.E.D. (1902 ), however, s.v. Oleomargarine, notes that the latter is ‘Often mispronounced (-mā·ɹdʒərīn), as if spelt -margerine’ (i.e. with /-dʒ-/ ). The latter pronunciation is recorded in 1913 (with subordinate status) by H. Michaelis & D. Jones Phonetic Dict. Eng. Lang.; the shortened form marge, in which -ge also implies pronunciation with /-dʒ-/ , is attested within ten years of this (see 1922 at marge n.2). The shift of stress, outside North American English, from the first to the final syllable is also first evidenced in the 1913 source.
I doubt if we will find any more definite answer than this.
answered Jul 29, 2011 at 13:24
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1this only hints that it was pronounced correct for some time and the current form was noted as mispronunciation... Or i got it all wrong. Anyway, the current pronunciation is extremely painful to anyone that sees the written word wout being exposed to the pronunciation first...– gcbCommented Mar 6, 2013 at 5:22
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1No, it says that one pronunciation was current for a while, and that another pronunciation (which at first was described as a mispronunciation) then took over. Commented Mar 7, 2013 at 16:54
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1No because my comment does not contain the word "correct", which depending on its sense is either tautologous or tendentious. Commented Mar 10, 2013 at 21:20
Perhaps margarine is pronounced thus because it is said to have been invented by Hippolyte Mege-Mouries. As this gentleman was French, that would fix the soft-g pronunciation.
answered Jul 29, 2011 at 20:30
mortgagorwhich is another soft 'g' example