Dropping Gs.

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In a link provided by Bob Murphy, Tommy Christopher writes "Maybe I just never noticed it before, but it’s also interesting that, after only a few days of covering folksy and authentic Rick Perry, Chuck is already droppin’ a few of his Gs."

I know this is the standard way of putting this, but the funny thing is that NO English speakers make a 'g' sound at the end of "ing" words like "walking" or "stopping," so there is no G to drop!

Comments

  1. Anonymous12:02 PM

    "NO English speakers make a 'g' sound at the end of "ing" words..."

    This is not correct. Some speakers do include a "g" sound after the velar nasal in such words. This may not be standard, but it definitely exists.

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  2. gcallah4:09 PM

    Well, komponisto, that's a blog written by professional linguists I linked to, and that fellow says it's either velar nasal or coronal nasal. Now, by "no" I of course don't mean that not a single English speaker has ever done that, I mean it's not a regular speech habit anywhere. So, if you want to dispute this, please tell me what accent has a 'g' after the velar nasal?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:39 PM

    Yes, I'm familiar with Language Log. :-) The intention of the post you linked to was just to point out that the "standard" pronunciation does not have [g]; it wasn't to make any categorical statement about all dialectal varieties of English.

    Dialects in the north of England and in the northeastern United States ("Long Guyland") for which "singer" rhymes with "finger" will also often have have a [g] in the participle ending "ing".

    See e.g. phonetician John Wells' comment here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. gcallah4:03 PM

    I stand correct.

    ReplyDelete

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