A linguist would tell you that this is a stupid argument to squabble over and pronunciation and rules are less important than how people use the language they speak. Linguists don’t correct grammar, pedants on the internet do. And if you want a prescriptivist take on the rules outlining the pronunciation of acronyms, there are none. Every acronym ends up being pronounced the way it gets pronounced by the people who pronounce it. There are just as many acronyms that are pronounced like the words they use to make it up as there is that aren’t. You don’t say Jay-feg (JPEG) or Skub-ah (Scuba) so you should have no qualms with someone using a soft G in GIF. If you have an issue with a soft G in GIF then you should absolutely have an issue with a soft G in Giraffe or the hard G in Graph. Your rules make no more sense than the coinage of the term deciding how it should be said.
Yes as a historical event that happened in English, linguists talk about it’s impact and what it was as a cultural moment in the language’s history but if you know linguists, you know that they do not care one little tiny bit about prescriptivism or the rules of English. Linguists study how people use language not how people should use language. That’s what English teachers are for.
A linguist would tell you that this is a stupid argument to squabble over and pronunciation and rules are less important than how people use the language they speak. Linguists don’t correct grammar, pedants on the internet do. And if you want a prescriptivist take on the rules outlining the pronunciation of acronyms, there are none. Every acronym ends up being pronounced the way it gets pronounced by the people who pronounce it. There are just as many acronyms that are pronounced like the words they use to make it up as there is that aren’t. You don’t say Jay-feg (JPEG) or Skub-ah (Scuba) so you should have no qualms with someone using a soft G in GIF. If you have an issue with a soft G in GIF then you should absolutely have an issue with a soft G in Giraffe or the hard G in Graph. Your rules make no more sense than the coinage of the term deciding how it should be said.
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A linguist would also talk about the Great Vowel Shift and the impact it had on the development of the English language.
Yes as a historical event that happened in English, linguists talk about it’s impact and what it was as a cultural moment in the language’s history but if you know linguists, you know that they do not care one little tiny bit about prescriptivism or the rules of English. Linguists study how people use language not how people should use language. That’s what English teachers are for.