Voiced velar nasal

ŋ

IPA Number 119

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Entity (decimal) ŋ

Unicode (hex) U+014B

X-SAMPA N

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The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ng in English sing as well as n before velar consonants as in English and ink. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ŋ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N. The IPA symbol ⟨ŋ⟩ is similar to ⟨ɳ⟩, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and to ⟨ɲ⟩, the symbol for the palatal nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the left stem. Both the IPA symbol and the sound are commonly called 'eng' or 'engma'.

As a phoneme, the velar nasal does not occur in many of the indigenous languages of the Americas or in many European or Middle Eastern or Caucasian languages, but it is extremely common in Australian Aboriginal languages and is also common in many languages of Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia and Polynesia. While almost all languages have /m/ and /n/, /ŋ/ is rarer.^[1] Only half of the 469 languages surveyed in Anderson (2008) had a velar nasal phoneme; as a further curiosity, many of them limit its occurrence to the syllable coda. In many languages that do not have the velar nasal as a phoneme, it occurs as an allophone of /n/ before velar consonants. An example of it used this way is the English word ingredient, which can be pronounced as either [ɪnˈɡriːdiənt] or [ɪŋˈɡriːdiənt].

An example of a language that lacks a phonemic or allophonic velar nasal is Russian, in which /n/ is pronounced as laminal denti-alveolar [n̪] even before velar consonants.^[2]

Some languages have the pre-velar nasal,^[3] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical velar nasal, though not as front as the prototypical palatal nasal - see that article for more information.

Conversely, some languages have the post-velar nasal,^[4] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of a prototypical velar nasal, though not as back as the prototypical uvular nasal.

Features[edit]

Features of the voiced velar nasal:

Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence[edit]

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		ngaqë	[ŋɡacə]	'because'
Aleut^[5]		chaang	[tʃɑːŋ]	'five'
Arabic	Standard	إنكار‎/'inkār	[ʔɪŋˈkʰɑːr]	'denial'	Allophone of /n/ before /k/; more commonly realized as [n].
Arabic	Hejazi	مــنــقل‎/mingal	[mɪŋɡal]	'brazier'	Allophone of /n/ before velar stops. See Hejazi Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern^[6]	ընկեր/ënker	[əŋˈkɛɾ]	'friend'	Allophone of /n/ before velar consonants
Assamese		ৰং/ŗông	[rɔŋ]	'color'
Bambara		ŋonI	[ŋoni]	'guitar'
Bashkir		мең / meñ	[mɪ̞ŋ] (help·info)	'one thousand'
Basque		hanka	[haŋka]	'leg'
Bengali		রঙ/rông	[rɔŋ]	'colour'
Bulgarian^[7]		тънко/tănko	[ˈtɤŋko]	'thin'
Catalan^[8]		sang	[ˈsaŋ(k)]	'blood'	See Catalan phonology
Chamorro		ngånga'	[ŋɑŋaʔ]	'duck'
Chinese	Cantonese	昂/ngong4	[ŋɔːŋ˩]	'raise'	See Cantonese phonology
	Eastern Min	疑/ngi	[ŋi]	'suspect'
	Gan	牙/nga	[ŋa]	'tooth'
	Hakka	我/ngai	[ŋai]	'I'
	Mandarin	北京/beijing	[peɪ˨˩tɕiŋ˥]	'Beijing'	Restricted to the syllable coda. See Mandarin phonology
	Northern Min	外/ngui	[ŋui]	'outside'
	Southern Min	黃/ng	[ŋ̍]	'yellow'	Only in colloquial speech.
	Sichuanese	我/ngo	[ŋɔ]	'I'
	Wu	五/ng	[ŋ˩˧]	'five'
	Xiang	熬/ngau	[ŋau]	'to boil'
	Yuci dialect of Jin	我/ngie	[ŋie]	'I'
Chukchi		ӈыроӄ/ṇyroq	[ŋəɹoq]	'three'
Czech		tank	[taŋk]	'tank'	See Czech phonology
Dinka		ŋa	[ŋa]	'who'
Danish		sang	[sɑŋˀ]	'song'	See Danish phonology
Dutch^[9]		angst	[ɑŋst]	'fear'	See Dutch phonology
English		sing	[sɪŋ]	'sing'	Restricted to the syllable coda. See English phonology
Faroese		ong	[ɔŋk]	'meadow'
Fijian		gone	[ˈŋone]	'child'
Filipino		ngayón	[ŋaˈjon]	'now'
Finnish		kangas	[ˈkɑŋːɑs]	'cloth'	Occurs in native vocabulary only intervocally (as a geminate) and before /k/. See Finnish phonology
French^[10]	Standard	camping	[kɑ̃piŋ]	'camping'	Occurs only in words borrowed from English or Chinese. See French phonology
French^[10]	Southern France	pain	[pɛŋ]	'bread'	For many speakers, [ŋ] acts as a substitute for the nasalization of the preceding vowel, which may still be partially nasal. It is one of the most typical traits of varieties of French influenced by an Occitan substrate.
Galician		unha	[ˈuŋa]	'one' (f.)
German		lang	[laŋ]	'long'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		άγχος / anchos	['aŋxo̞s]	'Stress'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew	Standard	אנגלית‎/anglit	[aŋɡˈlit]	'English language'	Allophone of /n/ before velar stops. See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hebrew	Sephardi	עין/nayin	[ŋaˈjin]	'Ayin'	See Sephardi Hebrew
Hiligaynon		buang	[bu'äŋ]	'crazy/mentally unstable'
Hindustani	Hindi	रंग/rang	[rəŋg]	'color'	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	رن٘گ‎/rang
	Fiji Hindustani	Rang
Hungarian		ing	[iŋɡ]	'shirt'	Allophone of /n/. See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic		göng	[ˈkœy̯ŋk]	'tunnel'	See Icelandic phonology
Inuktitut		ᐴᙳᐆᖅ / puunnguuq	[puːŋŋuːq]	'dog'
Inuvialuktun		qamnguiyuaq	[qamŋuijuaq]	'snores'
Irish		a nglór	[ˌə̃ ˈŋl̪ˠoːɾˠ]	'their voice'	Occurs word-initially as a result of the consonantal mutation eclipsis. See Irish phonology
Italian^[11]		anche	[ˈaŋke]	'also'	Allophone of /n/ before /k/ and /ɡ/. See Italian phonology
Itelmen		қниң	[qniŋ]	'one'
Japanese	Standard	南極 / nankyoku	[naŋkʲokɯ]	'the South Pole'	See Japanese phonology
Japanese	Eastern dialects^[12]	鍵 / kagi	[kaŋi]	'key'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen^[13]		manang	[manaŋ]	'older sister'
Kazakh		мың / myń	[məŋ]	'thousand'
Kyrgyz		миң/miñ	[miŋ]	'thousand'
Ket		аяң/ajaņ	[ajaŋ]	'to damn'
Khasi		ngap	[ŋap]	'honey'
Korean		성에 / seonge	[sʌŋe]	'window frost'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Northern	ceng	[dʒɛŋ]	'war'	See Kurdish phonology
	Central	جه‌نگ/ceng
	Southern	جه‌نگ/ceng
Luxembourgish^[14]		keng	[kʰæŋ]	'nobody'	See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		aнглиски/angliski	[ˈaŋɡliski]	'English'	Occurs occasionally as an allophone of /n/ before /k/ and /ɡ/. See Macedonian phonology
Luganda		ŋaaŋa	[ŋɑːŋɑ]	'hornbill'
Malay	Malaysian and Indonesian	bangun	[bäŋon]	'wake up'
	Kelantan-Pattani	sini	[si.niŋ]	'here'	See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
	Terengganu	ayam	[a.jaŋ]	'chicken'	See Terengganu Malay
Malayalam^[5]		മാങ്ങ/mān̄n̄a	[maːŋŋɐ]	'mango'
Māori^[15]		ngā	[ŋaː]	'the'
Marathi		रंग/ranga	[rəŋə]	'colour'	See Marathi phonology
Mari		еҥ/eng	[jeŋ]	'human'
Mongolian		тэнгэр / teŋger	[teŋger]	'sky'
Nepali		नङ/nang	[nʌŋ]	'nail'	See Nepali phonology
Nganasan		ӈаӈ/ngang	[ŋaŋ]	'mouth'
Nivkh		ңамг/ngamg	[ŋamɡ]	'seven'
North Frisian	Mooring	kåchelng	[ˈkɔxəlŋ]	'stove'
Norwegian		gang	[ɡɑŋ]	'hallway'	See Norwegian phonology
Odia		ଏବଂ/ebang	[ebɔŋ]	'and'
Panjabi	Gurmukhi	ਰੰਗ/rang	[rəŋ]	'color'
Panjabi	Shahmukhi	رنگ/rang	[rəŋ]
Persian		رنگ/rang	[ræːŋ]		See Persian phonology
Pipil		nemanha	[nemaŋa]	'later'
Polish^[16]		bank	[bäŋk]	'bank'	Allophone of /n/ before /k, ɡ, x/; post-palatal before /kʲ, ɡʲ/.^[17]^[18] See Polish phonology
Portuguese		manga	[ˈmɐ̃(ŋ)ɡɐ]	'mango'	Occurs occasionally in slow, careful speech, as an allophone of /n/ before /ɡ/ and /k/, when the speaker does not delete the /n/ by fusing it with the preceding vowel.
Occitan	Provençal	vin	[viŋ]	'wine'
Rapanui		hanga	[haŋa]	'bay'	Sometimes written ⟨g⟩ in Rapanui
Romanian	Țara Moților Transylvanian^[19]	câine	['kɨŋi]	'dog'	Corresponds to [n] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Sāmoan		gagana	[ŋaˈŋana]	'language'
Serbo-Croatian^[20]		станка / stanka	[stâːŋka]	'pause'	Allophone of /n/ before /k, ɡ, x/.^[20] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Seri		comcáac	[koŋˈkaak]	'Seri people'
Shona		nanga	[ŋaŋɡa]	'witch doctor'
Slovene		tank	[taŋk]	'tank'
Spanish^[21]	All dialects	domingo	[d̪o̞ˈmĩŋɡo̞]	'Sunday'	Allophone of /n/ before velar stops. See Spanish phonology
Spanish^[21]	Galician Spanish, Andalusian, Canarian, and most Latin American dialects	alquitrán	[alkitˈɾaŋ]	'tar'	Allophone of /n/ in word-final position, either before consonants other than velar stops or vowel-beginning words or before a pause.
Swahili		ng'ombe	[ŋombɛ]	'cow'
Swedish		ingenting	[ɪŋɛnˈtʰɪŋ]	'nothing'	See Swedish phonology
Tamil		இங்கே/in̄gē	[iŋgeː]	'here'
Thai		งาน/ngaan	[ŋaːn]	'work'
Tuamotuan		rangi / ragi	[raŋi]	'sky'
Tundra Nenets		ӈэва/ŋəwa	[ŋæewa]	'head'
Turkmen		müň	[myŋ]	'thousand'
Tyap		nɡɡwon	[ŋɡʷən]	'child'
Uzbek		ming	[miŋ]	'thousand'
Venetian		man	[maŋ]	'hand'
Vietnamese^[22]		ngà	[ŋaː˨˩]	'ivory'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		rhwng	[r̥ʊŋ]	'between'
West Frisian		kening	[ˈkeːnɪŋ]	'king'
Xhosa		ing’ang’ane	[iŋaŋaːne]	'hadada ibis'
Yi		ꉢ/nga	[ŋa˧]	'I'
Yup'ik		ungungssiq	[uŋuŋssiq]	'animal'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan^[23]	yan	[jaŋ]	'neck'	Word-final allophone of lenis /n/

Notes[edit]

^ Ladefoged (2005), p. 164. The oral counterparts /p, t, k/ are found together in almost all languages
^ Jones & Ward (1969), p. 160.
^ Instead of "pre-velar", it can be called "advanced velar", "fronted velar", "front-velar", "palato-velar", "post-palatal", "retracted palatal" or "backed palatal".
^ Instead of "post-velar", it can be called "retracted velar", "backed velar", "pre-uvular", "advanced uvular" or "fronted uvular".
^ a b Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.
^ Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 19.
^ Sabev, Mitko. "Bulgarian Sound System". Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
^ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
^ Wells (1989), p. 44.
^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 118.
^ Okada (1999), p. 118.
^ Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.
^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
^ Reed (2001).
^ Jassem (2003), p. 103.
^ Gussmann (1974), pp. 107, 111 and 114.
^ Ostaszewska & Tambor (2000), pp. 35, 41 and 86.
^ Pop (1938), p. 31.
^ a b Landau et al. (1999), p. 67
^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 258.
^ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
^ Merrill (2008), p. 109.

References[edit]

Anderson, Gregory D. S. (2008), "The Velar Nasal", in Haspelmath, Martin; Dryer, Matthew S; Gil, David; et al. (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Munich: Max Planck Digital Library, retrieved 2008-04-30
Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618
Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X
Gussmann, Edmund (1974), Fisiak, Jacek (ed.), "Nasality in Polish and English" (PDF), Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, Poznań: Adam Mickiewicz University, 2: 105–122
Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
Jones, Daniel; Ward, Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521153003
Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages, 1, Wiley-Blackwell
Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
Olson, Kenneth; Mielke, Jeff; Sanicas-Daguman, Josephine; Pebley, Carol Jean; Paterson, Hugh J., III (2010), "The phonetic status of the (inter)dental approximant" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 199–215, doi:10.1017/S0025100309990296
Ostaszewska, Danuta; Tambor, Jolanta (2000), Fonetyka i fonologia współczesnego języka polskiego, Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, ISBN 83-01-12992-1
Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
Reed, A.W. (2001), Kāretu, Tīmoti (ed.), The Reed Concise Māori Dictionary
Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
Wells, J.C. (1989), "Computer-Coded Phonemic Notation of Individual Languages of the European Community", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 19 (1): 31–54, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005892

External links[edit]

List of languages with [ŋ] on PHOIBLE

[1] Ladefoged (2005), p. 164. The oral counterparts /p, t, k/ are found together in almost all languages

[FOOTNOTEJonesWard1969160-2] Jones & Ward (1969), p. 160.

[3] Instead of "pre-velar", it can be called "advanced velar", "fronted velar", "front-velar", "palato-velar", "post-palatal", "retracted palatal" or "backed palatal".

[4] Instead of "post-velar", it can be called "retracted velar", "backed velar", "pre-uvular", "advanced uvular" or "fronted uvular".

[FOOTNOTELadefoged2005165-5] Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.

[FOOTNOTEDum-Tragut200919-6] Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 19.

[7] Sabev, Mitko. "Bulgarian Sound System". Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2013.

[FOOTNOTECarbonellLlisterri199253-8] Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.

[FOOTNOTEGussenhoven199245-9] Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.

[FOOTNOTEWells198944-10] Wells (1989), p. 44.

[FOOTNOTERogersd'Arcangeli2004118-11] Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 118.

[FOOTNOTEOkada1999118-12] Okada (1999), p. 118.

[FOOTNOTEOlsonMielkeSanicas-DagumanPebley2010206–207-13] Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.

[FOOTNOTEGillesTrouvain201367–68-14] Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.

[FOOTNOTEReed2001-15] Reed (2001).

[FOOTNOTEJassem2003103-16] Jassem (2003), p. 103.

[FOOTNOTEGussmann1974107,_111_and_114-17] Gussmann (1974), pp. 107, 111 and 114.

[FOOTNOTEOstaszewskaTambor200035,_41_and_86-18] Ostaszewska & Tambor (2000), pp. 35, 41 and 86.

[FOOTNOTEPop193831-19] Pop (1938), p. 31.

[Landau1999-20] Landau et al. (1999), p. 67

[FOOTNOTEMartínez-CeldránFernández-PlanasCarrera-Sabaté2003258-21] Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 258.

[FOOTNOTEThompson1959458–461-22] Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.

[FOOTNOTEMerrill2008109-23] Merrill (2008), p. 109.

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