Aspies For Freedom

hard g here, where is it soft?

*obnoxious note: sarah's favorite letter is g, hence the children and newfound last name.   *

I prounouce it :AS-per-grs
with a gr like in the word Growl.

Soft g here...

I think it's inevitable that the pronunciation would be different, considering most of the information people have is either online or from books... I've even heard it pronounced "oz-burgers" before...

Does anyone know how you pronounce it in Holland? I usually say it the English way or just call is AS, but I have a meeting with a specialist in a few weeks to see if I qualify for a diagnosis and me and my mother are quite afraid that we'll pronounce it wrong. We know that the specialists won't mind if we do, but we would be more comfortable if we knew how to say it.

I don't really know, but I always say it with a soft g, probably because that's my accent... I think you should just say it the way you think it sounds the best.

Asperger is a German name, hence it would be most natural to pronounce it like it would be pronounced in German. On the other hand, I'm sure you will make yourself understood however you pronounce it. Do note that the "soft g" isn't any variation of g but rather [dZ], so if you pronounce it that way, you're leaning too much on the English ortopgrahic conventions.

Probably because the p is unaspirated (it isn't accompanied by a strong burst of air, like the p in "pen"), so it can be hard to differentiate from its voiced counterpart [b].

Does anyone else find it amusing that the p is "unaspirated"? You'd think that an aspie word would be entirely aspirated... *grins*

I heard the G pronounced both ways, though the hard G is more common.

I just started reading Attwood's Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome and he says it's definitely a hard g, as in GET.

The part of Austria where Hans Asperger MD practiced was close enough to France that it could have been a soft g(as in gaol). However, The Queen's English,and the American, Canadian, and ANZ versions all use the hard g, as does all North Germany. The best way to find out how it is really pronounced would be to call someone in Vienna called Asperger and ask how they say it. It is a coin flip. In Switzerland,probably soft. In Strasbourg (now French) it would be certainly soft. In Bavaria, probably hard. In Wien, Austria; I don't know. I'll try to figure it out and repost if I find out. In English speaking countries, the convention is to use the hard g (like GO). It would be interesting to see how an actual surnamed Asperger would say it. If anyone on this post is of the name Asperger please let us know. Thank you for putting up with my pedantics. Bill.

I know I'm quoting an whole post, and I guess I should read the entire thread before replying, but...


Asperger should be pronounced with a hard g, as it is a German name (Hans Asperger being Austrian). There is no soft g in German.


AspieMum with a German partner and parents-in-law, who spends a LOT of time in Germany.