The pronunciation of Who's calling?

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Zoli

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Hi, the question "who's calling?" phonetically looks like: [huz ˈkɔ lɪŋ] there's an "ng" sound at the end, but I think most people replace the "ng" sound with an "n" sound in casual/fast/hollywood speech. Please correct me if I'm wrong. What I'm also interested if there's any stress on the word "Who's" or we just need to stress the first syllable of calling? Let's say the context is when I pick up the phone and ask Who's calling. Is there any stress on "who"?
 

Roman55

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I don't know what most people do in 'casual Hollywood speech', but in my variety of BrE the velar nasal 'ng' is retained, even if it's sometimes reduced in rapid/casual speech.

As for the stress on 'who's', there normally isn't any. It could be stressed to express real surprise or astonishment. 'Who's calling? I don't believe it!'
 

MikeNewYork

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Some people say "Who's callin'?", but that is not standard.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Hi, the question "who's calling?" phonetically looks like: [huz ˈkɔ lɪŋ] there's an "ng" sound at the end, but I think most people replace the "ng" sound with an "n" sound in casual/fast/hollywood speech. Please correct me if I'm wrong. What I'm also interested if there's any stress on the word "Who's" or we just need to stress the first syllable of calling? Let's say the context is when I pick up the phone and ask Who's calling. Is there any stress on "who"?

Dropping the G from-ing words is common but not standard. It's incorrect and sloppy. Remember that many English speakers don't speak standard English - that is, English that is generally regarded as correct.

I say "Who's calling." So do most other English speakers.
 
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