Dialect poll: How do you pronounce the simple past tense of "ring", as a bell?

In My Humble Opinion
1

From the Wikipedia article on California English, here:

I didn’t know there was such a thing as California English, but I have to concede that my pronunciation of the language is pretty well described by the article. However, when it comes to the word rang I didn’t know there was any other way to say it than something like “rayng”. The vowel I’m accustomed to using and hearing isn’t exactly like the vowel sound in rain, because the consonant /ŋ/ colors the preceding vowel a little differently from the way /n/ does it. But in situations where a rhyme was called for, my judgement would be that rang does rhyme with rain.

In The Addams Family, Lurch the butler would reply to Gomez or Morticia, “You ræææææng?”, but I thought that pronunciation was meant to be part of the character’s humor.

My question for the SDMB community is this: how do you pronounce the word rang? Also please give your country or region if so inclined.

2

Midwest (Wisconsin) I say Rang like Range and Rain. I’m not good with the wiki pronunciation guides, what’s the other way of saying it?

3

I live in the Midwest, Michigan to be specific and I pronounce it the same way “rayng”. The only other similar phrase I hear is “rung”.

4

It seems like it’s more a North American pronunciation, then a specifically Californian one.

BTW thanks for bringing up “rung”, which many people use in place of “rang” for the preterite. I should specify that the question is addressed to those who do use the simple past “rang”.

5

You know, I’ve seen that page, and I must say that it serves as a good example of Wikipedia trying a little bit too hard. By its own admission–and by some of the points made in the very same article–it should know better than to make such broadly definitive statements for a population like that of CA.

That said, what’s in this particular quote more or less describes my own pronunciation–except the one for rang.

6

Ring’d

7

I’d never say “rang” rhymes with “rain.” “Rang” has a short A, and “rain” has a long one.

8

When you say “long A” and “short A,” are you talking about the one in fat, fate, father, haul, or faux?

9

I also use the ai or rain. I’ve never heard anyone do differently. Hardly California English.

10

I say rang to rhyme with bang and hang. It’s a short a closest to ran and can, no rain sound at all. I lived in Maryland for most of my life, in Ohio for the past twelve years.

11

Rang to rhyme with fang/tang, sounds like the a in fat.
Rain to rhyme with train, sounds more like fate. Has more of a ‘ray’ sound to it which I think comes from the i.
(Australian via NZ/UK/US).

12

Interesting.

Rang, bang and hang have vowels that for me come nowhere close to the vowels in ran or can.

I’m not from California :slight_smile:

13

fat = short A
fate = long A

“Rang” has the same A as “fat.”

14

When I say ran and rang repeatedly, the sound as well as the shapes and motions of my mouth are the same until I hit the g.

15

From the UK:

“Rang” is pronounced like “ran” or “rag” except with a nasal “ng” sound (ŋ). It’s a short “a”, as in “cat”.

In IPA, I’d pronounce it as ræŋ. I’ve never heard it with the “rain” vowel.

16

I say the ‘a’ as if I were saying the word “Ray” or “fate”.

Angst, rang, pang, sang, wang, dang, ray, fate, rag all have the same ‘a’ sound. (Long ‘a’)

Cat, fat, hat, sat, rat, ran all have the same ‘a’ sound. (Short ‘a’).

I tried and tried to use the shot ‘a’, as if I were saying “Rat” but change the last sound to the ‘ng’, but I can’t get the ‘ng’ to work. I physically can’t do it :frowning: I’m broken!

Oh, I was Born in North Dakota, but have lived in ND, SD, NV, AZ, TX, MS, AL and NC.

17

MI here. I pronounce it exactly as the first syllable of “wrangler” or to rhyme with the first syllable of “anger”.

18

When I say “rang”, I think the vowel somewhere between the vowels in “Haig” and “hag”, but closer to the latter. (From SK, Canada.)

19

I wouldn’t say “faux” has any kind of “A” sound in it.

20

I guess that was part of my point. Letters don’t intrinsically “make sounds.” We use them to represent the sounds that we produce with our mouths, tongues, etc., with varying degrees of consistency. English has over 20 vowels, but to use letters to refer to sounds with terms like “long A” and “short A” is to imply that there are only 10 vowels in English. I think this becomes even more problematic when dealing with things like r-coloring, or nasals such as the one rang.