Pronunciation of -ing + vowel


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Pronunciation of -ing + vowel

singer [síŋɚ]
finger [fíŋgɚ]
coming in [kʌmíŋ ɪn] or [kʌmíŋ g ɪn] ?

The difference between the pronunciation of -nger of “singer” from the pronunciation of -nger of “finger” is made by the nasalization of er [ɚ].

The sound of ng [ŋ] is quite different from [n]. The sound of ng [ŋ] does not have any sound element of [n] either [g]. While the sound of ng [ŋ] is made, the tongue must remain pressed down behind the bottom teeth and the back of the tongue goes up, just like the tongue for [g]. But as the whole sound air goes up through the nasal cavity, the sound of [g] cannot be made. The phonetic symbols for the word “think” is [θɪŋk], and there is no [g] sound in it, something like [θɪŋgk].

In the pronunciation of the word “singer” [síŋɚ], after this sound of ng [ŋ], the sound air for -er [ɚ] still goes up through the nasal cavity: so there is no [g] sound. On the other hand, for the pronunciation of “finger” [fíŋgɚ], the sound air of this -er [ɚ] must goes out through the mouth, as releasing the back of the tongue.

For the pronunciation of words of -nging [ŋɪŋ] form, such as “singing” [síŋɪŋ], after the first [ŋ], the i [ɪ] of -ing [ɪŋ] must remain nasalized. The sound air of this i [ɪ] goes up through the nasal cavity, so that the pronunciation of the word “singing” [síŋɪŋ] has no [g] sound.

When an -ing form verb is followed by a vowel, such as “singing in the rain”, if you nasalize this preposition “in”, the sound air continues to go up through the nasal cavity and there will be no [g] sound. But if you do not nasalize the same preposition “in”, as the sound air going out through the mouth, as releasing the back of the tongue, it will make a [g] sound.

The pronunciation of “wrong” is [rɔːŋ].

The pronunciation of “wrong answer” is [rɔːŋ g ænsɚ].

This g sound is not a liaison in French, because a French liaison occurs between two vowels, avoiding hiatus, while this g sound occurs between an ng consonant and a vowel.

Whether you should do or not the nasalization of such and such vowel after an -ing form verb is not a question to which I have authority to answer. Nevertheless, I think stressed vowels after an -ing form verb are nasalized in general; for example “speaking Énglish”; there is no [g] sound. And I think unstressed vowels after an -ing form verb, such as unimportant prepositions, indefinite article “a, an”, etc., are not nasalized; therefore there will be a [g] sound, for example “I’m singing g-in the ráin” as Mr. Gene Kelly sang. This [g] sound should not be made intentionally, because -ing [ɪŋ] has essentially no [g] sound element. (I think this g can be called something like “dark G sound” after N). Just a release of the back of the tongue, which let the sound air of unstressed vowel go in the direction of the mouth, happens to make unavoidably a small [g] sound: it can be considered as a linking, but not exactly a linking, because this [g] is an accidentally added sound. I think it is a kind of phonetic complication. I think it can be called “occurrence of a phonetic complication between ng phoneme and unstressed phoneme”. This [g] sound belongs neither to the phoneme “ng” nor to the following phoneme. It is an “accidental phoneme” that happens between the pronunciation of a [ŋ] phoneme and the pronunciation of the following phoneme. I think this [g] sound is an “accidental phoneme” and grammar books must make it clear; i. e., in general, a [g] sound happens between [ɪŋ] of an -ing form verb and a following unstressed vowel, mostly a preposition, as a phonetic complication. This [g] sound can happen also after words that end with a [ŋ] phoneme other than -ing form verbs: such as, “sing g a song g of,” etc. The sound of ng [ŋ] phoneme is made with a very strong nasalization. This nasalization has a strong influence not only on the following vowel, but also on the following consonant. For example, in the word “things”, the [z] must be enough nasalized, so that this word is pronounced correctly as [θíŋz], without [g] sound before [z].

Pronunciation of “wings”
wings [wíŋz] should not be pronounced [wíŋgz], however many people pronounce this word with strong g sound.

Pronunciation of “songs”
The word songs [sɔːŋz] should not be pronounced [sɔːŋgz], however many people pronounce this word with strong g sound.