There are three Nasal Consonants in English. They are...
the Voiced /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/
[ Click on the image to see it on a large scale!]
-{ Click ' HERE ' for the transcript of my voice }-
Step 1: Watch the videos - VERY IMPORTANT (I've given the transcript for an easy grasp of the speech.)
Again, don't forget to make the consonant sound and pronounce the words.
Voiced Consonant /n/
at the end of the word ‘son’ /sʌn/ and at the beginning and end of the word ‘none’ /nʌn/.
In English, we make this sound with the tongue behind the teeth - /n/. And when you make this sound, you should be able to feel the vibration in your nose - /n/.
Now, let’s practise. Listen and repeat after me!
none ./nʌn/ Ok!
.
similar sounds /n/ and /ŋ/
It can be difficult to tell the difference between this sound /n/ and another similar consonant /ŋ/ which is made much further back in the mouth. Listen to these examples: son /sʌn/ sung /sʌŋ/
Can you hear the difference? Let’s try! You repeat after me: son /sʌn/ sung /sʌŋ/ 2X
Here’s some more examples. Listen first!
wind ../wɪnd/ winged /wɪŋd/
Now you try. Listen again and repeat after me. (Refer to the above list) Ok!
Voiced Consonant /ŋ/
and at the end of the word ‘rung’ /rʌŋ/.
Now, we make this sound towards the back of our mouth - /ŋ/. And if you do this sound correctly, you can feel the vibration in your nose - /ŋ/
Now, let’s practise. Listen to these example and repeat after me.
thank .../θæŋks/ Ok!
.
similar sounds /ŋ/ and /n/
Now you try! Listen and repeat: rung / rʌŋ/ run /rʌn/ 2X
Now, let’s have some more examples. Listen first!
singer ../ˈsɪŋə/ sinner /ˈsɪnə/
Now you try! Listen and repeat. (Refer to the above list) Ok!
Voiced Consonant /m/
This is a (voiced) consonant sound. It’s pronounced /m/. I make this sound by closing my lips and letting the sound come from my nose - /m/. I can even feel my nose vibrating. You try /m/.
at the end of the word ‘sum’ /sʌm/ and at the beginning and end of the word ‘mime’ /maɪm/.
Now, you try! Listen and repeat.
mime ../maɪm/ Good!
.
similar sounds /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/
It may be difficult to hear the difference between this sound /m/ and two similar sounds /n/ - the sound that you hear at the end of the word ‘son’ /sʌn/ and the sound that you hear at the end of the word ‘sung’ /sʌŋ/.
Now, listen carefully! Watch the shape of my mouth as I say these words.
rum ./rʌm/ ..run /rʌn/ ..rung /rʌŋ/
Now you try! Listen and repeat after me. (Refer to the above list)
Step 2: Do this activity! - VERY IMPORTANT
Click on the image below for the animation of the speech organs. Watch what happens inside our mouth when the voiced consonants /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/are made in isolation.
Follow these steps if you are not sure where to start from: (refer to the numbers)
to do it.]
1. .Say the phonemes the number of times they appear.
Now, use the syllable 'ma' and sing the tune of the song 'London Bridge' (Check my audio!)
Now, use the syllable 'na' and sing the tune of the song 'Happy Birthday' (Check my audio!)
Now, use the syllable 'nga' and sing the tune of the song 'Brother John' (Check my audio!)
hear something from your mother tongue.
2. Read the list of words in pairs.
mammy /ˈmæmi/ nanny /ˈnæni/
dorm ../dɔ:m/ .dawn ../dɔ:n/
win ./wɪn/ .wing /wɪŋ/
bang ../bæŋ/ ..bank /bæŋk/
e) ending /ŋgə/ and /ŋə/ (This is an afterthought! Refer to the words below my AudioPal.)
3. .Read the following sentences and paragraph! (Focus on /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/)
* Mary Mac's mother's making Mary Mac marry me.
* I know a nurse anaesthetist who unearthed a nest.
* The king would sing, about a ring that would go ding.
of the winding mountain stream.
A sample of the audio assignment that I've recorded for you!
Now, some of you told me that you find it difficult to pronounce the word ‘singer’ without dropping the consonant /g/. You, therefore, end up saying /ˈsɪŋgə/ instead of /ˈsɪŋə/. The following exercise should help you to overcome this problem. Add this to the above audio assignment as e) to No. 2
e) ending /ŋgə/ and /ŋə/
and pronounce as a single word.
You can use this Vocaroo Voice Recorder to practise the above Audio Assignment.
Powered by Vocaroo
[Note: Your recordings will not be saved permanently in this widget!]
This study session is assisted by G & G: Gabriel | Galina
[Please take note that Study Session 12 will be posted on 23.06.2013]
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Comments
Hello Dear Galina!
Thanks for your words!as i said to Gabriel, the key is just SPEAKING.You are undoubtedly right about him.He does a great job here!waiting to see you all in next Session!
Hello, Nina!
Wow! I admire your English! Will you tell me the secret of obtaining such an excellent accent. I'm very glad you've joined us! I like your questions to Gabriel. I read his explanation with pleasure. He always does it in a simple and interesting way. I myself benefit a lot from his teaching.
See you in our next Study Sessions!
Scarlett, now I'm looking forward that pleasant time when you will sing for us songs from your mother tongue. I think the way you sing them is amazing. Ok, we give you some time for preparation, but don't keep us waiting too long. Ok?
Gabriel, thanks for your warm words! I think you overestimate my work. I just have pleasure to take part in these Study Sessions and practise English pronunciation. Aso it's so exciting to listen to different people and compare different accents of English. I think you're doing great job!
Hello, Ehab Nassif!
Thanks for your nice words. Sorry for the late reply. I listened to your voice recording some days ago and every day I'm going to write a comment but it's difficult to find free time. Ok, first of all I'd like to thank you for your hard work and perseverance. You're an active participant of our Study Sessions. Your voice recording is good. You've made some mistakes and Gabriel pointed out them. It's naturally, we learn from our mistakes. This is the process of learning! I'm sure you paid attention to all of them and practised all these sounds and sentences once more.
Loooking forward to seeing you in our next Study Session.
I'm supposed to express my great thank to another Teacher of mine:* Galina*...
Dear Galina!
thanks for the way you care and follow each of us..I'm here to thanks you publicly.you are doing a great job indeed!
regards.
Nina.
Hello Teacher Gabriel!
thanks for your comment on my speaking.i hope to be as what you just described.to be honest the key is just speaking! :-) you are a really good teacher..your explanations are very helpful!yes i got my answers,esp for the second question i have to say that,i think Ive found out the problem.if i want to pronounce -er- as what we have in American i have to shift in place of articulation from nasal /ŋ/ to /ər/..but what i was doing was shifting to /g/ and then the /ər/! i could see the difference by pronouncing them! yes..you are right its not impossible!thanks again for your detailed explanation...MAY UNIQUE GOD BLESS YOU...
Waiting to join you in the study session 12!
regards
.Nina.
This is Nina's Voice Message that she sent to me:
Hello, Nina!
I was pleasantly surprised with your impeccable spoken English. Where did you learn to speak like that? You sound like a native speaker of English. Good for you!
Now, here are my answers to your questions.
“When we add ‘s’ to a singular noun that ends with the letter ‘g’ to form the plural, should we pronounced the ‘g’ followed by the ‘s’?”
Okay, first you must understand the difference between the ‘g’ and /g/. ‘g’ is a letter (pronounced /dʒi:/) and /g/ is a phoneme (speech sound). They two are not the same!
In your example (thing), the word ends with a digraph ‘ng’. A digraph is a combination of two letters that represent a single sound. The digraph ‘ng’ represents the sound /ŋ/, and there’s no /g/ in it! /g/ and /ŋ/ are two different sounds! [‘th’ is also a digraph with the sound value /θ/] Thus, in written English the singular noun ‘thing’ (made up of 5 letters) becomes ‘things’ (6 letters) in its plural form. Whereas, in spoken English /θɪŋ/ (singular - 3 sounds) becomes /θɪŋz/ (plural - 4 sounds). Please notice that there’s no /g/ sound involved! In short, the plural form is /θɪŋz/ and not /θɪngz/ or /θɪŋs/
“It’s easier to pronounce the nasal in different words in British English but it’s impossible in American English to do that without pronouncing the ‘g’. Why is it so?
Well… whether it British or American accent, we don’t pronounce the ‘(n)g’ alone as a single sound, /g/. But we pronounce the combination of ‘n’ and ‘g’ as a single sound, which is /ŋ/. (‘ng’ is a digraph, isn’t it?)
However, the pronunciations of the two accents vary because…
1. British accent is ‘non-rhotic’ – we don’t pronounce the letter ‘r’ when it occurs on certain positions, especially at the end of a word when the word is said in isolation.
Let’s use your examples: singer clanger ringer
/ˈsɪŋə/ /ˈklæŋə/ /ˈrɪŋə/
2. American accent is ‘rhotic’ – we pronounce the ‘r’ everywhere it occurs!
Here are the same words: singer clanger ringer
/ˈsɪŋər/ /ˈklæŋər/ /ˈrɪŋər/
So, you see, the ending /ŋə/ in British pronunciation is short and ‘mild’ – the vocal cords vibrate lightly. Whereas, the ending /ŋər/ (or /ŋɚ/ ) in American pronunciation is long and ‘strong’ – the vocal cords vibrate harder because of the /ər/ blend.
This is what, I guess, gives you the perception that there’s a /g/ between /ŋ/ and /ər/. In actual fact, there is no /g/. Hope my answers satisfy you. Thank you!
Dear teacher Gabriel,
As teacher Galina was saying, you are such a strict teacher. I do agree with her :) But I really appreciate your stricture. Always, you spot out exactly my mistakes and my weakness as well, don't worry about your correction. I did mean to pronounce in British English accent. So, my pronunciations were definitely wrong. And the homograph, I nearly forgot it :S. Thank you very much for your corrections and help. I'll try to practice again more.
I love most your great sense of humour, and even your "horrible voice" that I always wish to have. I'm really glad if you could spend time on Skype and teach me how to not be that shy talking to you. As for the vocal coaching, I'm only can be a breeze to please your ears, never thought of letting you be my student. I dare not, Sir! ;-)
Learning with you is my big honour, I've learned a lot from your pronunciation study sessions series. So, I'm looking forward to attending your SS No.12
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