Re: Phonetic question

"Paul Blay" writes:

> "Dan Rempel" wrote ...
> > 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?

> It may make sense, but that taint the way _I_ hear myself saying
> it.

> It seems to me to be approximately /sin-ger/ /fin-ger/ or /sin-guh/
> /fin-guh/ depending on the whim of the moment.  However perceptions
> are always  the problem - ideally someone should ambush me with a
> tape recorder and  an oscilloscope.  (I suspect I don't sound the
> same when I _know_ I'm  being recorded).

Reminds me of some of the students from Japan I used to get in my
Japanese linguistics course.  They adamantly resisted the notion that
Japanese /N/ (as the mora nasal, aka "syllabic" nasal, is usually
phonemicized) has different pronunciations in "tenpura," "nan-da,"
"manga," "denwa," and "arimasen," which are all different (except
perhaps the last, in which I say the end-of-sentence /N/ can be
pronounced any of the first four ways, but native Japanese linguists
don't agree with me on that, claiming that it is a uvular nasal
stop).

Bart