U.S. English Pronunciation - Lesson 8: the sounds /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/

U.S. English Pronunciation
Lesson 8: the sounds /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/

The /ŋ/ sound in English is most often represented by the letters 'ng', while /n/appears as the letter 'n' and /m/ as the letter 'm'.

Keep in mind as you learn English pronunciation that English spelling is rather unpredictable with a multitude of exceptions and variations. The rules sometimes seem to lack a predictable pattern. Fortunately there are only a limited number of 'phonemes', or sounds. That's why these pronunciation lessons focus on the phonemes and try to give only non-exceptional spelling examples. This should make it easier for you to master the individual sounds as you progress and start to encounter variations and exceptions. Individual phonemes are represented by their International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol between forward slashes: / /.

Remember, consonants in any language are the result of the brief stoppage or restriction of airflow in speech at different 'points of articulation'. While one is speaking, the vocal chords are either vibrated (voiced), or not (voiceless). (check out the links to the right to review previous lessons)

Nasal consonants:

/m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ are 'nasal' consonants and are all 'voiced'. They are produced by passing air through both the mouth and nose at the same time and stopping airflow through the mouth at a given 'point of articulation'. All three have points of articulation covered in previous lessons.

/m/

The /m/ sound is a 'bilabial' nasal consonant like /p/ and /b/ (see Lessons 1 and 3 for more information). Is is pronounced by stopping airflow through the mouth by putting both lips together, while continuing to let air flow through the nose.

Examples:

word initial:

meet

Monday

market

mail

word final:

him

Tom


/n/

The /n/ sound has an 'alveolar' point of articulation like /t/ and /d/ (see Lessons 2 and 3 for more information).

Examples:

word initial:

neat

nose

no

nail

word final:

bin

pan


/ŋ/

The /ŋ/ sound has a 'velar' point of articulation (see Lessons 2 and 3 for more information).

Examples:

word final:

sing

nothing

song

ring


Try practicing some of these English pronunciation examples, check back for more examples and later lessons:

The goal of this course is to help you learn English pronunciation in simple, easy-to-understand terms, while at the same time giving you enough familiarity with technical linguistic concepts to move on to other, more advanced topics. Try reviewing the previous pronunciation lessons (see links to the right).

Lesson 9: the sounds /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ -->



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