[General] how do you make the ŋ sound?

[DontBanMe]

Dear moderator, please close this thread!

 

[birdeen's call]

Yes. The back of your tongue touches your soft palate when you pronounce this sound. Another word for soft palate is "velum", which is why the sound is called velar.

Remember that there is always a space after an exclamation mark or a question mark.

Hey there!How do you make the ŋ sound?Do............. incorrect

Hey there!_How do you make the ŋ sound?_Do ........ correct

 

[DontBanMe]

Yes. The back of your tongue touches your soft palate when you pronounce this sound. Another word for soft palate is "velum", which is why the sound is called velar.

Remember that there is always a space after an exclamation mark or a question mark.

Hey there!How do you make the ŋ sound?Do............. incorrect

Hey there!_How do you make the ŋ sound?_Do ........ correct

Thank you for your reply! Same goes for the correction!
So, do you need to raise the back of your tongue towards the soft palate *before* making the ŋ sound? or the back of your tongue would be raised and touch the velum when you make that sound?

 

[birdeen's call]

I'm not sure how to understand your question. You can only make the sound when the back of your tongue already touches your soft palate. It has to stop the airflow. When your tongue doesn't touch your soft palate, it's impossible to pronounce the sound.

 

[DontBanMe]

I'm not sure how to understand your question. You can only make the sound when the back of your tongue already touches your soft palate. It has to stop the airflow. When your tongue doesn't touch your soft palate, it's impossible to pronounce the sound.

So, can you tell me where the position of the front part of your tongue is when you make that ŋ sound?(Sorry, I'm kind of thick!)

 

[birdeen's call]

So, can you tell me where the position of the front part of your tongue is when you make that ŋ sound?

The position of the tip of your tongue doesn't really matter. It doesn't take part in the articulation of the sound. The airflow is stopped by the back of your tongue, so it all goes to your nose. This is why this velar sound is called nasal. The tip of your tongue takes the most natural position -- it rests on the floor of your mouth.

 

[DontBanMe]

The position of the tip of your tongue doesn't really matter. It doesn't take part in the articulation of the sound. The airflow is stopped by the back of your tongue, so it all goes to your nose. This is why this velar sound is called nasal. The tip of your tongue takes the most natural position -- it rests on the floor of your mouth.

Why would the tip of my tongue move to my hard palate( the roof of my mouth) when I try making the ŋ sound?

 

[birdeen's call]

Why would the tip of my tongue move to my hard palate( the roof of my mouth) when I try making the ŋ sound?

I don't know. Can you pronounce /g/?

 

[DontBanMe]

I don't know. Can you pronounce /g/?

I can sort of make the g and k sound without really touching my soft palate.
My phonetics book stated that my tongue isnt supposed to make a contact with the roof of my mouth. That is why I'm so puzzled!
PS: Actually my front part of the tongue doesn't touch my hard palate.but it wouldn't remain low somehow.

 

[birdeen's call]

I can sort of make the g and k sound without really touching my soft palate

I'm guessing you might be doing the the voiced uvular plosive /ɢ/ instead of the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/. When you pronounce the former, your tongue doesn't touch your palate. It touches that little pointy thing called uvula and the sound is articulated there. In the latter, your tongue touches your soft palate, that is velum. Note that only /ɡ/ exists in English. /ɢ/ does not.

.
My phonetics book stated that my tongue isnt supposed to make a contact with the roof of my mouth.

Could you quote your book?

It could be helpful if you had your real native language in your profile. Perhaps the explanation of your problem lies there.

 

[5jj]

I can sort of make the g and k sound without really touching my soft palate.

It might help us consider your problem if you told us your native language. You give it as Latin, but very few people are brought up from birth speaking that language. Coming from the Holy See, you may well speak Latin every day, even in Iceland, but I doubt if it is what linguists generally refer to as a first language.

On the other hand, if Latin is your first language, I do not understand why you can only 'sort of' make /g/ and /k/ sounds in the way you describe.

 

[5jj]

It could be helpful if you had your real native language in your profile. Perhaps the explanation of your problem lies there.

TGMWBAST

 

[birdeen's call]

TGMWBAST

To get many waffles, Birdeen, ambush Shopkeeper tomorrow.

But I don't want any waffles, 5jj! :shock:

;-)

 

[5jj]

To get many waffles, Birdeen, ambush Shopkeeper tomorrow.

But I don't want any waffles, 5jj! :shock:

;-)

To grasp my wit, better avoid silly thoughts.
OR:
To grasp my wit better, avoid silly thoughts.:roll:
OR EVEN:
To grasp my wit, better avoid, Silly, thoughts.

 

[DontBanMe]

I'm guessing you might be doing the the voiced uvular plosive /ɢ/ instead of the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/. When you pronounce the former, your tongue doesn't touch your palate. It touches that little pointy thing called uvula and the sound is articulated there. In the latter, your tongue touches your soft palate, that is velum. Note that only /ɡ/ exists in English. /ɢ/ does not.
Could you quote your book?

It could be helpful if you had your real native language in your profile. Perhaps the explanation of your problem lies there.

well, I can make the g and k sound without touching any part in my mouth. people can understand what I say as well. I dont know how to describe that book. It's a british phonetics book. That's what i can say.
My real native language? Laugh out loud(sounds AKWARD). How do you know if my native language isn't latin? well, my native language is mandarin. However, I speak english most of the time.i learnt other languages as well. Sorry for being dishonest. Laugh out loud

 

[DontBanMe]

It might help us consider your problem if you told us your native language. You give it as Latin, but very few people are brought up from birth speaking that language. Coming from the Holy See, you may well speak Latin every day, even in Iceland, but I doubt if it is what linguists generally refer to as a first language.

On the other hand, if Latin is your first language, I do not understand why you can only 'sort of' make /g/ and /k/ sounds in the way you describe.

You know Latin pretty well,huh?
Well, to be honest, my first language isn't latin.
I don't like telling people where I'm from. So, I like putting false information.
This is also a way to prevent from baddie, I guess!
By the way,I have to apologize that I lied to you all.

 

[5jj]

well, my native language is mandarin. [...]You know Latin pretty well,huh?

I do not claim to be an expert in either spoken Latin or in Mandarin phonology.

However, my memory from my time in China is that the /ŋ/ sound I heard there is very similar to my /ŋ/. My /g/ and /k/ are not exactly the same as the Mandarin equivalents, but the Mandarin sounds are velar. None of my Chinese students had any problems with these sounds.

A little hunting on the internet turned up several interesting sites, including:
inogolo - Pronunciation of Beijing : How to pronounce Beijing
and
Chinese Pronunciation - A, O, E with G, K, H » ChinesePod .

So, I don't really understand your difficulty with the English sounds.

I also do not claim to be an expert in phonetics. However I have looked through the British books on phonetics and phonology I possess (by Abercrombie, Ashby, Collins & Mees, Cruttenden, Gimson, Jones, Ladefoged, O’Connor, Roach and Wells) and can find nothing about the tongue not being supposed to make a contact with the roof of the mouth. Indeed, Gimson’s (my emphasis added) “The primary obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the back of the tongue and the soft palate” is fairly typical of what is written about the velars.

It is possible that you have not remembered correctly the words in your book.

 

[mara_ce]

Hey there! How do you make the ŋ sound? Do you really raise your back of the tongue towards the soft palate before making the ng sound?

I think this video might help.

ESL Videos » About the NG

 

[DontBanMe]

I think this video might help.

ESL Videos » About the NG

Well, I already watched that video.
she said the tip of the tongue is down behind the bottom front teeth while
the back of the tongue stretched up and touched the soft palate which is not raised in the sound.
However, my problem is that my tip of the tongue would move to my roof of the mouth while I'm trying to do so. (That's my doubt)

 

[DontBanMe]

I do not claim to be an expert in either spoken Latin or in Mandarin phonology.

However, my memory from my time in China is that the /ŋ/ sound I heard there is very similar to my /ŋ/. My /g/ and /k/ are not exactly the same as the Mandarin equivalents, but the Mandarin sounds are velar. None of my Chinese students had any problems with these sounds.

A little hunting on the internet turned up several interesting sites, including:
inogolo - Pronunciation of Beijing : How to pronounce Beijing
and
Chinese Pronunciation - A, O, E with G, K, H » ChinesePod .

So, I don't really understand your difficulty with the English sounds.

I also do not claim to be an expert in phonetics. However I have looked through the British books on phonetics and phonology I possess (by Abercrombie, Ashby, Collins & Mees, Cruttenden, Gimson, Jones, Ladefoged, O’Connor, Roach and Wells) and can find nothing about the tongue not being supposed to make a contact with the roof of the mouth. Indeed, Gimson’s (my emphasis added) “The primary obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the back of the tongue and the soft palate” is fairly typical of what is written about the velars.

It is possible that you have not remembered correctly the words in your book.

I really appreciate your reply. A moderator named Tdol asked me if I'm Learner91.Yes, I am. But I realized my mistake. Dont I deserve a second chance? I guess I won't be here sooner or later.
Actually, I have no big problem to make the ng sound. I just wondered if I make it right. (because my tip of the tongue wouldn't remain low when i make that sound. that's the problem) People can understand me quite well. They know what I'm trying to say. I just want to make it perfect. My uncle said English isn't the hardest language in this world, but it takes time to speak perfect English. Well, I'm not from China or Beijing. So, I didn't know if they say that word with nasal sound. (I know their accent are different from mine, though) I would just say Beijin, I guess. Anyway, people understand what I say. You know, ever since I started learning phonetics, I haven't been able to speak mandarin properly. (I do have accent,not very thick,but the accent is totally different from my pals.) Yet, I'm glad that I learnt phonetics because my pronunciation used to be suckish.