/m/: Voiced, lenis, bilabial, nasal.
Description: This sound is formed about the same way /b/ is, except that the soft palate is lowered and a continuous stream of voiced air escapes through the nasal cavity.
Error: Students show a tendency to velarize this sound in final position. They produce Spanish /n/, e.g. Yes, I am /jEsaIQN/*.
Accuracy: For practice, we may add a slight / /after /m/ and lengthen the pronunciation of the latter. We may also place /m/ before the initial vowel of a following word. For example:
Yes, I am.
I’m a student.
/n/: Voiced, lenis, alveolar, nasal.
Description: A closure is formed between the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge while the vocal cords vibrate, the same as for /d/, but the soft palate is lowered so that a continuous flow of voiced air escapes through the nasal cavity.
Error: In the cluster (/n/ + /v/), /v/ is often substituted by /b/ —and /n/ by /m/—, as in invite invite /Im‘baIt/* or envelope /‘Emb«loUp/*. When final, /n/ tends to be velarized, e.g. Marian /‘merI«N/*. When the English phoneme becomes syllabic, the Spanish speaker is very likely to produce a clear vowel + /N /: cotton /‘kAtoN/*.
Accuracy: It is worth noting that, in the first case, accurate pronunciation of /n/ is possible only if the labio-dental quality of /v/ is achieved. Indeed, if /v/ is correctly pronounced, the pronunciation of /n/ presents no relevant difficulty.
In the case of final /n/, the same as we did with /m/, we may pronounce /n/ before the initial vowel of a following word to become aware of its alveolar quality. For example:
Marian and I.
/n/: Voiced, lenis, velar, nasal.
Description: This sound is similar to /g/ in its voicing and velar articulation, but different in its escape through the nasal cavity because the soft palate remains lowered during its articulation.
Error: In intervocalic position, Spanish speakers tend to produce /g/ after /n/, e.g. /‘sINgIN/*.
Accuracy: Let us try to lengthen the sound and its two surrounding vowels in a low voice. By no means should we allow an intruding /g/. For example:
I’m singing.
It’s ringing.
Whenever ng is final in a word, it is pronounced /n/, as in sing, hang. When the inflected endings -er or -ing are added to a verb ending in ng, the pronunciation of /n/ does not change: singer, hanging. If the base of the word is not a verb, medial ng is pronounced /ng/: finger, stronger, younger.
<Nasals can become syllabic (Need whole explanation!!!). fattening, eaten, sentence, something, gotten, beaten.>
