ing - ink?

Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:11 am GMT
Why do lots of native speakers pronounce words like 'nothing' as 'nothink' when there is no k on the end?
Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:42 am GMT
They do? I've heard this from people imitating German speakers, but that's it.
Earle   Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:03 am GMT
No native American English speaker does that, unless it's an accent picked up from parents from another country...
Skippy   Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:54 am GMT
This doesn't really happen in America, although there are some dialects where the /g/ at the end of the word is actually released... So the word "sing" does sound kind of like "sink," just with voicing... I know Angela Kinsey from the US version of the Office does this, and she's from Lafayette, LA and went to school in Waco, TX, though I'm from Dallas (an hour and a half north of Waco) and I study in Baton Rouge (one hour east of Lafayette) and I can't think of any of my friends who say it this way.
Lazar   Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:59 am GMT
As far as I know it just occurs in the London area.
Travis   Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:57 am GMT
It does not happen in and of itself here in Milwaukee, *but* /ŋz/ and /ŋs/, particularly word-finally, are commonly pronounced [ŋʲkʲsʲ].
Pub Lunch   Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:27 am GMT
Lazer & Josh you are both on the money. It would seem that this would be a feature of English dialects or rather South East of England dialects.

I am certainly hearing 'nothing' and 'something' (especially something) pronounced this way. I really have no idea why it is so, but sadly it is. It is more likely to be spoken this way by the working classes (though it is in no way the dominate pronunciation - thankfully).
Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:33 am GMT
nothink - no think?

LOL!
Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:34 am GMT
Actually it is quite a common occurrence in New Zealand. In fact, I even heard the leader of the opposition say it once!
Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:34 pm GMT
nothing = nuthunn or nutheen
Travis   Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:00 pm GMT
>>This doesn't really happen in America, although there are some dialects where the /g/ at the end of the word is actually released... So the word "sing" does sound kind of like "sink," just with voicing... I know Angela Kinsey from the US version of the Office does this, and she's from Lafayette, LA and went to school in Waco, TX, though I'm from Dallas (an hour and a half north of Waco) and I study in Baton Rouge (one hour east of Lafayette) and I can't think of any of my friends who say it this way.<<

Mind you also that obstruent voicing is actually quite weak to nonexistant word-finally in many English dialects to begin with...
Earle   Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:05 am GMT
No native American English speaker does that, unless it's an accent picked up from parents from another country...
Earle   Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:24 am GMT
The actors on "Hogan's Heroes" are not native speakers...
Brian   Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:37 am GMT
The only people I've ever heard say "ink" were young British people. I remember how much it grated my nerves to hear a low-class British girl say "I wasn't sayin' noffink!"
Guest   Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:15 pm GMT
- I remember how much it grated my nerves to hear a low-class British girl say "I wasn't sayin' noffink!" -

You gotta be Prince Charles or summthn...