Why is -ng transcribed as ング?


Why are English words ending with -ing often transcribed with ング? For example,
timing = タイミング, morning = モーニング, and diving = ダイビング. My guess is that グ is
formally pronounced with 鼻濁音｛びだくおん｝ , i.e. pronounced like /ŋu/. Therefore, is
this the case?




You're on the right track, but a little off.

When a language borrows a word from another language, it has two choices: drop
the sounds that don't exist in their language, or add sounds to preserve the
original pronunciation.

Japanese is a language that tends to try to preserve the pronunciation.

So, グ will not be pronounced as /ŋu/. However, /n/ becomes /ŋ/ before /g/. But
since /g/ in isolation isn't possible in Japanese, they employ /gu/ (グ), in
order to force the /ŋ/ pronunciation of ん.

So the phonemic /n.gu/ is rendered phonetically as /ŋ.gu/.

This sound cluster also exists outside of English borrowings:

天満宮（てんまんぐう） /ten.maŋ.gu/

漫画（まんが） /maŋ.ga/




You're on the right track, but a little off.

When a language borrows a word from another language, it has two choices: drop
the sounds that don't exist in their language, or add sounds to preserve the
original pronunciation.

Japanese is a language that tends to try to preserve the pronunciation.

So, グ will not be pronounced as /ŋu/. However, /n/ becomes /ŋ/ before /g/. But
since /g/ in isolation isn't possible in Japanese, they employ /gu/ (グ), in
order to force the /ŋ/ pronunciation of ん.

So the phonemic /n.gu/ is rendered phonetically as /ŋ.gu/.

This sound cluster also exists outside of English borrowings:

天満宮（てんまんぐう） /ten.maŋ.gu/

漫画（まんが） /maŋ.ga/

