Pronounce English Accurately

Video Text

/ŋ/ is made in exactly the same position as /k/ and /g/ but it's a nasal, not a stop.

Here's the diagram, showing the uvula lowered to allow the air to pass through the nasal cavity.

Like the other nasals, it is impossible to make /ŋ/ if you hold your nose.

/ŋ/ is always written 'ng' or when it's combined with /k/ to make /ŋk/, 'nk' or 'nc'.

/ŋ/ cannot occur in initial position, so we have examples of it in medial and final position only.

In medial position:

'singer'

'singing'

'banger'

'banging'

'hangar, hanger'

'hanging'

'clinging'

'clanging'

'clanger'

/ŋ/ or /ŋg/?

The biggest difficulty with /ŋ/ is knowing whether it's pronounced /ŋ/, as in 'singer' or /ŋg/, a in 'finger'.

There's nothing in the spelling to tell us so we have to look at the structure of the word.

If '-ng' comes at the end of the word, it is always /ŋ/, never /ŋg/ - 'thing', 'ring', 'wrong'. This causes quite a lot of learners problems, including Spanish and Italian speakers, who tend to pronounce these words with /ŋg/.

Whenever 'ng' comes at the end of the word, there should be NO /g/ sound, just /ŋ/: 'song', 'tongue', 'lung', 'sting', 'string'.

Some native accents of English, including Birmingham, do have /ŋg/ here but it is non-standard, stigmatised, and widely regarded as very unattractive.

If it occurs in the comparative or superlative from of an adjective, /ŋ/ always changes to /ŋg/ - for example, 'young' becomes 'younger' and 'youngest', with /ŋg/. Other examples are 'strong -stronger - strongest' and 'long - longer - longest'.

Other than the comparative and superlative of adjectives, if the letters 'ng' occur in medial position, and /ŋ/ is not the end of the root of the word, then it's /ŋg/.

For example, 'finger' - there is no root 'fing', 'finger' is the whole word. In this case it has to be /ŋg/. Other examples are 'to linger', 'languor', 'hunger', 'anger' and 'manga', 'tangle' and 'wrangle'. None of these have a root ending in 'ng'.

On the other hand, 'singer' is /ŋ/ because it comes from the root 'to sing'.

We also have to watch out for the 'ng' spelling when it is not /ŋ/ at all, but /dʒ/. Examples of this are 'danger', 'stranger', 'deranged' and 'plunger'.

'nk'

The 'nk' spelling is easier because it is always pronounced /ŋk/. Examples are 'think' /θɪŋk/, 'pink' /pɪŋk/ and 'drink' /drɪŋk/.

Examples of /ŋk/

'blink'

'clank'

'clunk'

'sink'

'sank'

'sunk'

There are words in which an 'n' is the end of one syllable or word and a /k/ sound the beginning of another, for example, 'pancake' (pan + cake).

In careful speech this could certainly be /ˈpæn.keɪk/, with an /n/ sound, but in faster, more natural speech it's likely to become /ŋk/ - /ˈpæŋ.keɪk/ - again because of assimilation. It's hard to move from the alveolar /n/ position to velar /ŋ/ position.

A smaller number of words are spelt 'nc' and are pronounced /ŋk/:

zinc

rancour

anchor

Whenever /n/ is followed by /k/ or /g/ it can change to /ŋ/.

For example if the word 'in' is followed by the word 'case', the /n/ can change to /ŋ/ so /ɪŋ ˈkeɪs/.

This is another example of assimilation, and can occur within words too, like incredible or ungrateful. The assimilation is optional, and it is often hard to hear. Native speakers will do this without realising it.

Strange spelling/pronunciation combinations include 'tongue, which we've just seen, 'dengue' as in 'dengue fever'

With French pronunciation:

meringue

harangue

Practice sentences

The younger they are the stronger they'll be.

The ice rink really was on the brink of melting.

Don't blink - try to wink instead!

An old one from British TV:

Think before you drink before you drive.