Have other people noticed how the が sound often changes in formal speech to a [ŋ] (‘ng’) sound?

10 comments

1. It’s called [鼻濁音](https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/鼻濁音)

2. You are correct. [ga] and [ŋa] are allophones in Japanese, both spelled が but pronounced slightly differently depending on the speaker. I believe the whole ガ行 operates this way. 鍵 is often pronounced [kaŋi], すぐ as [sɯŋɯ], etc.

   The fact that these pronunciations are allophones explains why most native Japanese speakers you meet don’t perceive a difference. It would be a bit like asking an English speaker if they can hear the difference between the k in kit (aspirated) and the k in skit (unaspirated).

3. Not a linguist, but yes it is very common, also when it appears within words (oshougatsu). Understand it is somewhere between nasalisation and velarisation.

   More here, look under “Weakening”:
   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Consonants

4. The nasalized “g” is considered the “proper” pronunciation in Japan, and professionals like news casters, actors, singers etc. are trained to pronounce it that way. It comes naturally to speakers of some dialects but not to others, and people without public speaking/singing background tend to be unaware of the distinction.

5. I had been taught to pronounce が [ŋ] in my childhood. My mother often scolded me for saying ガ [ga] , because she said it sounds rough and dirty, with the exception when it comes to the loaned words like ガラス.

   Hence, ガラス wouldn’t be pronounced [ŋa] even in formal speaches.

   I learned that in original Japanese, ガ行 was more prominently pronounced with [ŋ] . I have once listened to the reconstructed reading of the famous first part of 枕草子 in my class. The reconstruction was scholars’ attempt by guessing from 天台声明 which preserves original pronunciations.

6. Elanor Harz Jorden actually makes note of this phenomenon in her textbook *Japanese, The Spoken Language*:

   >*The symbol* ***ḡ*** *represents a sound like the ‘ng’ of ‘singer’—that is, it is a sound made with the tongue in position for a* ***g*** *but with the air escaping from the nasal passages. In Japanese, this sound never occurs at the beginning of an utterance.*
   >
   >*[…]*
   >
   >*The occurrence of* ***ḡ*** *is a matter of dialect. While it is usually considered a feature of Tokyo Japanese, there are many Tokyo speakers that who regularly use* ***g*** *instead, and there are still others who alternate freely between the two. The situation, as far as this text is concerned, is as follows:*
   >
   >*When* ***g*** *is written,* ***ḡ*** *is NOT always to be substituted*
   >
   >*When* ***ḡ*** *is written,* ***g*** *can ALWAYS be substituted*
   >
   >*Example:*
   >
   >***GA-i: G*** *occurs in the speech of all speakers of Japanese*
   >
   >***KA-ḡu:*** *Some speakers say* ***KA-ḡu*** *(with the nasal* ***ḡ*** *)* *consistently, others say* ***KA-gu*** *consistently, and still others alternate freely between the two pronunciations.*
   >
   >*Whichever pronunciation you use, you must be able to understand both.*

   She doesn’t mention anything about the formality of speech, but seeing as the Tokyo dialect is the standard for “correct” speech in Japanese, there may or may not be some sort of prestige subconsciously attached to the nasalisation of g sounds.

7. My Japanese professor would encourage us to say the nasalized “ga” when using it as “but.” 例:~~ですが

8. I think [ŋ] is the older of the pronunciations. That would explain why “English” got borrowed as イギリス [iŋirisɯ]. Similar to Arabic *’ingilīziyy* or Marathi *iŋgrajī*

9. Some Japanese people are aware of the difference, but it seems to be the one’s that speak good English that know.

   A Japanese person actually explained it to me when they taught me　いかがですか.

   There’s a similar thing going on with J. There’s like two versions and most people don’t notice.

10. Especially in enka