The difference (in pronunciation) between 'finger' and 'singer'

Status
Not open for further replies.

tzfujimino

Key Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello, everyone!:-D

singer sɪŋə(r)
finger fɪŋgə(r)

The words that end with '-nger' are really confusing to me.
'singer' is the only word that I know which has 'ŋə(r)' sound. (because of my poor knowledge...)
Could you give me some other words with 'ŋə(r)' ?
Thank you in advance!:-D

P.S. I should have posted this in the Phonetics section. (I thought I did..., I don't know what happened...)
I'm sorry...:oops:Please move this to the relevant section.
 
Last edited:

Chicken Sandwich

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Netherlands
Re: The difference (in pronunciation) between 'singer' and 'finger'

Hello, everyone!:-D


'singer' is the only word that I know which has 'ŋə(r)' sound. (because of my poor knowledge...)
Could you give me some other words with 'ŋə(r)' ?

NOT A TEACHER

I had to think about it for a while, but a word that came to mind after some thought was "ringer".

Edit: another word: "zinger".
 
Last edited:

nyota

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Australia
Re: The difference (in pronunciation) between 'singer' and 'finger'

Hello, everyone!:-D

singer sɪŋə(r)
finger fɪŋgə(r)

The words that end with '-nger' are really confusing to me.
'singer' is the only word that I know which has 'ŋə(r)' sound. (because of my poor knowledge...)
Could you give me some other words with 'ŋə(r)' ?
Thank you in advance!:-D

P.S. I should have posted this in the Phonetics section. (I thought I did..., I don't know what happened...)
I'm sorry...:oops:Please move this to the relevant section.

I'll just add that when n is followed by k or g it's pronounced
ŋ.
Also across word boundary.

in camera
bank
singing



 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
'singer' is the only word that I know which has 'ŋə(r)' sound. (because of my poor knowledge...)
Could you give me some other words with 'ŋə(r)' ?
banger, clanger, hangar, hanger
I should have posted this in the Phonetics section. (I thought I did..., I don't know what happened...)
I'm sorry...:oops:Please move this to the relevant section.
Don't worry; accidents happen. I've moved it.
 

raindoctor

Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Swahili
Home Country
Kenya
Current Location
United States
That is due to ng-coalescence.

sing, sing+er, sing+ing
hang, hang+er
bang, bang+ing
spring, spring+y
dung, dung+y
wing, wing+y

In words like finger, linger, bangle, there is no morphological boundary (+) between ng and er/le.

In some other words, despite the presence of morphological boundary, you hear g; cf. longer, stronger, younger, longest, strongest, youngest.

Then, you also have contemporary dialectal differences within English accents. Check Our changing pronunciation
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top