How do you pronounce finger and singer?

[cakeorwine]

www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/31/north-south-english-dialects-language-pronunciation-study

"Whether someone pronounces the “g” in “finger” and “singer” is another key dialect marker, with a silent “g” in singer now the most common form.In the 1950s, speakers who articulated the “g” in both words were mainly in the north-west of England and the West Midlands, but the new survey found that this pronunciation is spreading beyond its traditional limits, into Herefordshire, Preston, the Ribble valley and Nottinghamshire"

I think I pronounce it 'fin / ger' and 'sin / er'

I don't think the 'g' is silent when I pronounce it.

Unless I am missing something - is there a form of a silent 'g' in these words?

The “ng” digraph is its own phoneme sound that is different to the “g” phoneme.

I pronounce finger
f/ i/ ng/ g/ er

and singer
s/ i/ ng/ er

I’m from the southeast.

Soft/hard g is the g in age compared to hag

Silent g would be the g in gnat

From NW (but lived in SE for 20 years. Finger and singer both have a hard g.
DH - from NE singer has a indistinct g.
DS1&2 - say it like me. DD says it like DH!
wierd..

Sing-er and Ring-er

I dont pronounce the g so that it sounds like Ghurr (sing-Ghurr).

Surprised no one has brought class into it yet 😉

In the 1950s, speakers who articulated the “g” in both words were mainly in the north-west of England and the West Midlands, but the new survey found that this pronunciation is spreading beyond its traditional limits, into Herefordshire, Preston, the Ribble valley and Nottinghamshire"

Forget pronunciation, the Guardian needs some geography lessons as Preston and the Ribble Valley are in the NW of England.

This thread is blowing my mind.

Someone above said that they would pronounce all of these words in the same way and I’m staggered: finger, singer, linger, ringer, winger

I don’t understand how anyone could pronounce a clear ‘g’ sound in words like ringer, singer, winger when there is no G pronounced in ring/wing/sing??

or would these people say sin-guh, rin-guh and win-guh??

even making allowances for regional accents this is a revelation to me.

All of those sound the same to me (I'm sat here saying them!)
Born in Devon, but mostly lived in NW England

Scottish accent here. Only finger and linger have the hard g. (Like fing-ghir ling-ghir) to those who can't imagine it ) All the rest soft g. So the whole word runs together.

I find it simple. Say 'sing' exactly how you say that word, but then carry on with 'er'.
For finger, you say 'fing' then 'ger'. Same for linger

Yes this exactly.

Fing-ger
Sing-er

The '1st' G sound is barely pronounced but its there

Aah I get it now.

Although I bet somebody somewhere is putting a soft g in finger <arf>

Fing-ger (actually, more like ‘fing-gah)

Sing-ah.

NZ, non-rhotic accent.

They all have the same sound and of course you pronounce the g in sing/ring/wing!!

I am from the West Mids though… (I have tried for years to hear the difference; I can’t. This ng digraph does not exist in my dialect)

Just got my dc to say the two words - Fin-Ger and Sin -ner, but not quite the same as Sinner. There’s a hint of a G, but it’s not a strong G.

Think I’ve read it too often to see what I say, but it’s definantly Fing-Ger, and I think Sing- er (not Sin -ger)

South East England

i pronounce G in Ring, Sing etc

Finger, linger = fing-ger with a hard g

Singer, swinger, ringer = sing-er no g

Scotland

I’m going to confuse matters further by noting that as often as not I’d pronounce finger the same as singer, but neither with a hard G (fing-er, sing-er).

Exactly the same for me.

well apart from t’first letter

Oldham

All sound the same to me

Pinger
singer
finger
linger
ringer
zinger
winger

(except ginger, interestingly),

Fin~ger

Sing~er

Yes but I also pronounce the g in ring/sing/wing, because I'm not saying sin/rin/win, but it doesn't sound like a hard g like at the end of pig. It's the ng phoneme as others have said and posted phonetic examples of.

I wouldn't call it silent because it's distinct from just n by itself, whereas gnome, gnat etc are pronounced Nome, nat etc. That's a silent g.

Sing ends with a g. How else do you pronounce it? Sin?

Singer = sing-uh

the ‘sing’ is like the end of loving or giving.

finger to rhyme with linger

Londoner.

Fing-Ger
and
Sing-uh