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Decoding the letter N
Voiced velar nasal Voiced alveolar nasal {{{1}}} The letter N, lowercase n (pronounced /en/) normally represents IPA phoneme /n/. For examples see IPA phoneme /n/.
Before /k/ or /g/ it normally represents /ŋ/ as in ink /ɪŋk/ or finger /fɪŋɡər/. In other cases "n" can optionally be pronounced /ŋ/ as in an alternative pronunciation of income as Template:Subtle+. There are no minimal pairs in which the difference is /nk/ and /ŋk/, or /ng/ and /ŋg/.
Before /p/ or /b/ "n" can be pronounced /m/ as in an alternative pronunciation of input as Template:Subtle+.[1] There are no minimal pairs in which the difference is /np/ and /mp/, or /nb/ and /mb/.
Exceptions
- Silent n: autumn - column
N in combinations
- ng
Main article: Pronunciation exercises: "ng"
- as /ŋ/: hang - hanged - hanger - hanging - hangs
- as /ŋg/: anger - finger - hungry
- as /ŋk/: length - strength
- as /ndʒ/: angel - arrange - danger - orange
- gn
- as /n/: align - champagne - foreign - sign
- as /gn/: ignore - recognize - significant
- as /nj/: cognac - lasagnaAmE - lasagneBrE. See also IPA phonetic symbol [ɲ]