The Sound and Style of American English

Course #2

LESSON 6: THE NASAL CONSONANTS

Dr.David Alan Stern

AUDIO

L6/S1: THE "M" Phonetic Symbol: [ m ]

SPELLING: "m" or "mm" as in MAN CAMP HAMPER HAMMER

MOTHER, MOVE, MOTION, TOMORROW, MARY

- MY MOTHER HOPES I'LL MARRY IN THE MONTH OF MAY.
- MANY MOONS AGO A MAN MADE A MAP OF MINNESOTA.

Now try these extra M drills which aren't on the tape.

meet, mitten, Mexico, map, moose, moss, mop, mother, mail, most, mile, mouse, moist, mere, moors, marble, ham, temper, empty, important, simple, Jim, slim, game, home, immense, imitate, ember, consumer, coming, summer, swarming, calm, some, team

- My mother was emotional when she came home from Maine.
- Mike mixed cream and mint into my mild emulsion
- Crime-mongers claim that criminals can't reform.
- Make hammering noises sometime after early morning.
- Most of the time his slam-dunk motion is monotonous.

L6/S2: THE "N" Phonetic Symbol: [ n ]

[LANGUAGE NOTE: The next two sounds -- "N" and "NG"--cause the most difficulty for EAST ASIAN language speakers. This is particularly true for CHINESE and SOUTHEAST ASIAN languages. So pay particular attention to these two sounds, and the drills which contrast them. You also find speakers of GERMAN, YIDDISH, RUSSIAN, and other SLAVIC languages will put extra "K" at the end of the "NG" consonant.]

SPELLINGS :

"n" or "nn" as in NANCY, NAME, MAN
"kn" as in KNEE, KNIT
"pn" as in PNEUMONIA, PNEUMATIC

NAME, NEIGHBOR, NO, NARROW, NANCY, NOBLE
ANN, SAND, SIN, BRAIN, RAIN, BEN, SOON

And how about a few more drills not on the tape?

knee, nip, nebula, napkin, noon, neutral, knob, number, nail, notice, nice, now, near, nautical, number, nail, notice, nice, now, near, nautical, number, nail, notice, nice, north, enough, interest, enter, antics, soonest, tawny, tainted, toner, downy, teen, grin, pen, pain, pun, spoon, spawn

- You never know when to stop the nonsense.
- I'm not annoyed at Noah for negotiation the annuity.
- He's interested in taking the tainted products away.
- Sit inside the pavilion instead of in the sun.
- Is anyone interested in annotating the notebook?
- Ned announced which train was arriving next.

L6/S3-A: THE " NG" Phonetic Symbol : [Ç]

SPELLINGS:

"ng' as in SANG RANG CRYING
"n(k)" as in RANK SANK

READING, WRITING, JUMPING, DANCING
RANG, FANG, TANG, SING

And a few more:

jumping, running, arguing, yelling, scraping, cutting, bring, ring, finger, linger, gang, hang, clang, mangle, pang, sting

L6/S3-B: THE "NG" FOLLOWED BY "K"

SANK, RANK, FRANK, SINK, DRINK, TANK

And a few more with the K following the NG consonant:

bank, canker, dank, hanker, clank, manx, plank, swank, vanquish

L6/S3-C: CONTRASTING "NG" and "N"

RAN/RANG, FAN/FANG, TAN/TANG, SIN/SING

SANK, RANK, FRANK, SINK, DRINK, RANK, TANK

RAN/RANG/RANK, TAN/TANG/TANK, SIN/SING/SINK

-- DON'T SING SONGS ABOUT SIN.
-- HE RAN OVER AND RANK THE GONG.
-- I PLAN TO BRING FRANK A ROWING MACHINE.
-- HE' S WALKING ALONG THE SAND AND GETTING A TAN.

And now some additional sentences with all sorts of the nag combinations:

- Sing songs about running and laughing at the rink.
- I like things which bring admiring fans to the brink of tears.
- Exercising his swimming and diving style was a passing hobby.
- He's coming around here every morning and waking up the sleeping children.