A little late in the asking but it seems every year during the early rounds I hear a lot of idol hopefulls (especially youger ones) pronounce the word singer and singing as sin-GER and sin-GING.
Sounded annoying but I thought “Well, maybe there is an alternate pronunciation I just haven’t heard?”
I couldn’t find one.
Is that a legit pronunciation or are these people just slaugtering the word?
Please describe what you mean a little more clearly. I’m assuming you don’t mean that they’re stressing the second syllable. Does it sound like “sin gur” or “sing gur”? If the former, I have no idea what it indicates. If the latter, I have heard that people from New York supposedly say this.
As for “legit” status, as far as I’m concerned all pronunciations are legit. Furthermore, these are such common, familiar words that it seems unlikely that many people would make mistakes in their pronunciation, so you’re almost certainly hearing some kind of dialect difference.
You mean with a little extra somethin’ on that first “G” right? I’ve heard that once in a while. More so with sin-Ger than sin-Ging. Come to think of it, it was common when I used to frequent the black souther baptist churches of my youth. Maybe it’s a black thinG. Or maybe just a southern thinG?
Eh? I’ve always heard/said the word as “sing-er.” The only times I can remember noticing an extra G (sing-ger) were in some Black dialect on TV.
I’m guessing you mean they’re either adding an extra velar stop (ie. engma and then g) or replacing the usual solo engma with an nasal alveolar / velar cluster (ie. the actual consonants n and g), but I don’t know which.
I’m referring to the added “g” sound (as in grape) on the second syllable.
Sometimes the even use it when saying “sing”.
“Sing” is a one syllable word with a silent g.
They pronounce it as if it were two syllables and annunciate the g. “Sing-ga”.
“I like to sing-ga because I’m a good sing-ger and enjoy sing-ging.”
I think what you mean is this:
Most people pronounce the first “g” of “singer” and “finger” differently. In “finger” it is clearly pronounced, whereas in “singer” the “ng” is pronounced as one sound in the back of the throat. I believe this is what Lama Pacos was saying using more technical language.
If the people you heard were indeed pronouncing “singer” as if it rhymed with “finger”, that would indeed be a pronunciation I’ve never heard.
Ed
I haven’t noticed it on American Idol but the way you describe it it sounds like the way I remember Jewish people in New York City would pronounce it. E.g. : LonGisland for Long Island, EatinGlunch for Eating Lunch, etc. Heavy emphasis on the G and running the words together.
example: SinGinGaSonGof Love
I have never heard any Black people talk like that.
People in Northern England do the same thing, ie pronounce singer, hanger, ringer in exactly the same way as finger or linger.
Yes, perfect comparisson. They are pronouncing “singer” they same way as “finger”. It bugs me to no end for some reason.
Just wanted to be sure they are indeed doing it incorrectly.
Huh, I don’t recall hearing anyone pronounce them differently (the “g” is sort of swallowed in both words). I wish we had sound so I could hear them pronounced without them rhyming. Are you all saying fing-Ger?
“Standard” English pronunciation (yeah, whatever that is) of those two words does not rhyme. The “g” is voiced in “finger” but not in “singer”. That is, “singer” has only the “-ng-” phoneme, but"finger" has “-ng-” followed by “g”.
From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: 1sing·er
Pronunciation: \ˈsiŋ-ər\
Main Entry: 1fin·ger
Pronunciation: \ˈfiŋ-gər\
Some regional accents do pronounce the former more like the latter (e.g. northern and Midlands English), but I have never come across an accent that pronounces “finger” without the voiced “g”.
Definitely. “Singer” = the word “sing” + the suffix “er.” “Finger” is not “fing” + “er.”
[Otto]They call them fingers, but I never see them fing.
Oh… there they go.[/Otto]
As a nitpick, I would say that should be
The first syllable of “finger” ends in an “-ng” sound, like “sing”, not like “sin”.
I notice that distinction especially, because as a kid I had real trouble pronouncing the “n” consonant on its own, I used to say “ng” instead. Or should I say “ingstead”. Maybe it comes from having an “ing” cluster in my name…
Thanks. I guess it’s not an exact rhyme, but I’ve never noticed people putting as much stress on the g in finger as the person in the link is.
I know exactly what you mean, although I don’t watch AI.
I’ve heard people do it occasionally down here too. Tends to be part of the rural / blue collar dialect, I think, but I may be misremembering.
It is mildly annoying.