1 Pronunciation Focus Lesson Twenty-Two (Consonant Lesson 10: Thing, Thin and Think Consonant Lesson 10: Thing, Thin, and Think The NG sound in Thing combines some features of N and some features of G. How the sound is produced (the manner of articulation): Like N, the NG sound is a nasal consonant. The velum or soft palate at the back of the mouth is open so that air from the lungs can flow up and out through the nose. At the same time, the position of the tongue blocks air from flowing out the mouth, so all of the air flows out the nose, producing a humming noise that sounds very similar to N. Where the sound is produced (the place of articulation): The tongue takes much the same position it does to produce the G sound. Imagine again that your tongue is a dolphin with its nose facing forward, ready to leap out of your mouth. To produce the NG sound, the dolphin s tail (the back of your tongue) curls up to press against the roof of your mouth towards the back of the mouth, close to the throat. That s the velum, so like G, the NG sound is a velar consonant. Experiments First, recall the position of the tongue for N and G by saying No, Go, No, Go, No, Go For N, the dolphin s nose (the tip of your tongue) aims straight up like an arrow to touch the roof of your mouth just behind the upper front teeth. For G, it s the opposite: the dolphin s tail curls up to touch the roof of the mouth towards the back, close to the throat, while the nose dips down to touch the back surface of the lower front teeth.
2 Second, say the word bag as you normally would, simply paying attention to the position of your tongue as it helps produce the G sound at the end of the word. Then say just the first two sounds: B and A: Ba At the end, prepare to say the G sound, but don t actually make it. That is, place your tongue into the G position, but just leave it there without making any sound. Now start over and say the word bang. Finally, say Bag, Bang, Bag, Bang, Bag, Bang You should be able to feel that the tongue position for G is much the same as it is for NG. The difference is that, for G, the dolphin s tail (the back of your tongue) quickly taps the roof of your mouth to stop the outflow of air. For NG, the dolphin s tail presses against the roof of your mouth and stays there while you make a humming noise that sounds a lot like N. Third experiment. Say Ban, Bang, Ban, Bang, Ban, Bang Do this again, but now draw out the length of N and NG with a singing or humming tone of voice so it sounds like: BaNNN, BaNNG, BaNN, BaNNG You should be able to notice that the humming sounds of N and NG are quite similar, yet the tongue position is the opposite. For N, nose up, tail down. For NG, tail up and nose down. The different functions of the NG sound It s impossible to begin a word with the NG sound, so it s always found at the end of a word or syllable. It is found at the end of many one-syllable words such as sing and song. It also occurs in a few two-syllable words such as singer. Otherwise, the NG sound is found in combination with the G sound (as in anger) or the K sound (as in anchor).
3 The IPA symbol which linguists use to represent the NG sound is an N with an extra curved tail: ŋ This is how the word hunger is represented in IPA symbols: /ˈhʌŋ.ɡər/ Notice that two different sounds appear here on either side of the dot. The first syllable ends with the NG sound as is the word hung. The second syllable begins with the G sound as in the word good. To help us notice and identify this sound, we will use the standard spelling NG. For the sake of clarity, when the NG sound is followed by another consonant sound, we shall always separate the two sounds with a dash. So we have: anger à anchor à ang-ger ang-kor Exercise: Notice and Identify. Read through the following list of words and then write down what you hear, using this standard spelling method. 1. language 2. uncle 3. hanger 4. banquet 5. anxious 6. anxiety
4 Answers language uncle hanger banquet anxious anxiety lang-gwidge ung-kle hang-er bang-kwit ang-kshus ang-zi-ety Notice: Some words are spelt with the letter N followed by the letter G, but are not actually pronounced with the NG sound. To avoid confusion, where necessary we shall separate the N from the G with a dash. Here are a few examples: sunglasses sun-glasses ungrateful un-grateful hinge hindge (DG as in judge) Notice also that some words spelt with NK do contain the NG sound, but others do not. Here are two examples: thank mankind thang-k man-kind
5 Exercise. Read through the following list of words and then write down what you hear, using the standard spelling methods you have learned. 1. Congo 2. conclude 3. congeal 4. conquer 5. congratulate 6. congregate [ANSWERS ON NEXT PAGE]
6 Answers Congo conclude congeal conquer congratulate congregate CoNG-go con-klude con-dgeal cong-ker con-gradg-ulate cong-gregate Explanations Look again at the list above. Do you notice any pattern that might explain why in some cases N and G remain two separate sounds, while in other cases they combine to form the NG sound? A clue can be found in the words inquire, inquiry and inquest. In the UK, inquire and inquiry are both pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: inquire inquiry in-kwire in-kwi-ry But in the US, inquiry is commonly pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, and it comes out like this: inquiry ing-kwi-ry
7 Furthermore, in both the UK and the US, the word inquest is commonly pronounced: inquest ing-kwest Similarly, consider the following comparison: engulf England in-gulf Ing-gland Do you recognise the pattern now? Here it is: in every case when N and G (or N and K) remain separate sounds, the stress falls on the second syllable. Conversely, in every case when the stress falls on the first syllable, we get an NG sound followed by a separate G or K sound. Taking the matter one step deeper, consider these words: anguish anxious ang-gwish ang-kshus Both have roots in the Latin adjective angustus. It is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, so N and G remain two separate sounds: Angustus (Latin) an-guhs-tus The Latin word means narrow, constricted, or crowded. The idea is that people tend to feel anxious when pushed into a corner, or into a small space like a crowded elevator. Is the word anxiety an exception to this rule?
8 anxiety ang-zi-ety No, it s not because of course the second syllable begins neither with a G nor a K, but with a Z sound. On a separate topic, why do you suppose these words have a K sound in the middle? function strength fung-kshun streng-kth Why, of course, it s because K is a voiceless consonant sound, and it provides a transition to the voiceless consonant sounds that follow: SH in the first case, TH in the second case. Finally, it should be noted that the Latin word lingua (with an older form dingua) means tongue or speech. This shows that the words language, bilingual, and tongue all share a common root and we all know by now that language is something we do with our tongues!