I hear the same thing as RickJay.
Your first “thing,” “something,” and “anything” sound about like I think I would say them, although by now, I probably pronounce any word with an “-ing” as “throatwarbler mangrove.”
Of course where I live people are notorious for pronouncing it “ting”.
A lot of folks agree with you. I guess I have a sensitive ear. Even if I have trouble pronouncing a foreign word, I can still hear the difference in the way I’m saying it and the correct way.
Bet
De(b)t
Get
Jet
Let
Met
Net
Pet
Set
Vet
Wet
All rime the way I have ever heard anyone pronounce them.
I have no idea what an alternate pronunciation might sound like
for either “wet” or “get”.
Bing
Bring
Cling
Ding
Fling
King
Ping
Ring
Sing
Sling
Sting
Swing
Wing
Rime likewise. However, and maybe this is a personal idiosyncracy, I often
pronounce “thing” as “theyng” (soft th-). For some reason I have no idea how
most others pronounce it, although I can easily see that it might in conformance
with the list above.
I don’t have the clearest speaking voice in the world (very nasal), but I recorded myself saying “thang, theng, thing, and theeng” in that order. The third pronunciation is the one I use.
The vowels sound right to me. I am intrigued, though, with the addition of the [g] at the end of each. That’s unusual in my experience.
In other words, you said [θæŋg], [θɛŋg], [θɪŋg], [θiŋg]; whereas the more common pronunciations would be [θæŋ], [θɛŋ], [θɪŋ], [θiŋ].
You’re correct. Apparently, I am over-enunciating for the audio sample. I don’t seem to add the “g” in spontaneous speech, so far as I can tell.
If I’m reading something where they’re supposed to rhyme, get and wet rhyme for me, as do thing and sing.
If I’m just using them in a sentence, sometimes I say “theng” instead of thing-rhymes-with-sing, and sometimes I say “git” or the halfway version instead of get-rhymes-with-set. I never say “thang” though.
Southern-midwestern type USA regional. The oddest part of my dialect is a tendency to say “your alls” for the 2nd person plural possessive.
Wow. Another ‘theng’ person. I have never heard anyone pronounce ‘thing’ as ‘theng’. I’m now wondering how common this is.
Would you mind also recording a use of “thing” spoken naturally in context? Does the vowel you use change when you say “something” and “anything”?
And would you agree that “sing” and “ring” use the same vowel as the fourth form, not the third?
I was wondering about this myself and I’m wondering if it isn’t just that I can’t hear it.
In my accent, “thing” rhymes with “sing;” it has a sharp I sound; it’s not a schwa, and it’s not a long E sound either. (I don’t understand how Homo literalis thinks “thing” sounds like “theeng,” as those are really different sounds. But maybe his accent doesn’t distinguish between them.)
So I’ve been puzzled by “theng” because I thought I’d never heard anyone say that but it occurs to me that for a Canadian, it’s probably that **I cannot tell the difference **between “theng,” whatever that is, and “thang.” My brain will more or less register only two ways of saying that word; one, the way I do it, which has the ringing I sound; the other, the stereotypical Southern “thang.” If someone says “Theng” I probably hear “thang,” much the same way Polerius can’t hear the difference in the way he says “wet” and “get” even though to me and BetsQ he’s making totally different sounds.
Our ability to hear vowel dfferences is heavily affected by what we’re accustomed to, so this “theng” thing just isn’t something my brain is equipped to hear; to me it’s either “thing” or “thang.” If I moved to the U.S. Midwest for a few years I’d probably learn to distinguish them.
What are talking aboot?
My daughter pronounces “milk” as “melk”. It may be a Pennsylvania thing.
“melk” and “vanella” are fairly widespread. I do those (Southern California).
I’ll try to get to it later but, no, “sing” and “ring” do not have an “ee” sound in my dialect. “Seeng” and “reeng” sound weird to my ears, just like “theeng” does.
The only time I hear “theeng” is when I’m watching Modern Family (Sofía Vergara).
Actually, here’s me saying “I rang the bell; I reng the bell; I ring the bell; I reeng the bell” at what is my normal speaking pace.
It seems to me that at times my /ɪ/ might shade a little towards /i/, but it definitely does not feel as “closed” in my throat as a pure /i/.
That’s because we’re starting to muddle our thengs along with the meaning of “long e”.
To be clear, I had been saying all along that thing most definitely does not sound like theeng because theeng rhymes with sing and thing sounds like theng. I say sing with a long e (seeng), but I don’t sound like Sofia Vergara because she needs three consecutive e’s to say sing, four if she says it with passion.
“Long” vowels say their own name. We three kings sing, eating green peas has only one vowel sound to my ear: long e.
pulykamell, your ring and reeng both remind me of subtle accents that I hear from time to time, and I can say with absolute certainty that whenever I say ring, I fall somewhere between the two.
After such a fascinating discussion, I’m glad to see fellow Thengers finally show!
Well, no, not to me. I’ve never heard sing pronounced “seeng.” Sing rhymes with thing. Neither rhymes with “theeng.” Not the way we speak around here, anyway.
Where do you live? I don’t know of a native English accent where those vowel sounds are the same’ I’mcurious as to where this is.