Re: Phonetic question

"Dan Rempel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

> > I'm no linguist but here are the rules I can think of:
> >
> > 1. Nouns that end in nger (finger, hunger, anger) are pronounced with a
hard
> > g.
> >
> > 2. Verbs that end in ng (which is always nasalized) maintain the
> > nasalization when adding er to the end to convert it to a noun
representing
> > someone who or something that engages in the verb action (singer,
banger,
> > hanger, ringer).
> >
> > 3. Adjectives that end in ng (which is always nasalized) are converted
to a
> > hard g (younger, longer) when adding er to form the comparative.
> >
> > Now, let the exceptions rip. Anybody?
>
> Not an exception, but an observation: I think you're confusing spelling
> and pronunciation. Singer is /sing-er/ (ng = velar nasal);  finger is
> /fing-ger/. Does that make sense?

I don't follow your point at all. What I've tried to do above is craft
pronunciation rules regarding when the g in the nasalized "ng" also doubles
as as a hard g. The word finger, for example, has a nasalized ng and the g
also doubles as a hard g independently of that. In the word "singer,"
however, this is not the case because there is (for most speakers) no hard g
in that word. But in the word "younger," although the stem, "young," is
pronounced with a nasalized "ng" just like the stem "sing" of "singer,"
adding the "er" causes the g to double as a hard g. My suggestion in rules 2
and 3 above is that this is because one is a verb and the other an
adjective. I can't think of any exceptions to this rule but I invite others
to try.

Jeff