Introduction to American English Nasal Sounds

There are three nasal sounds in American English pronunciation: the m sound, n sound, and ng sound. The two major points that beginner ESL/ELL students should understand about producing nasal sounds are:

1. The air is completely blocked from leaving the mouth, and is instead released out through the nose
2. All three nasal sounds are voiced, meaning that the vocal cords vibrate during the creation of the sound

A subtle aspect of the n sound to be aware and attempt mastery of is:

1. The n sound can become syllabic consonant on unstressed syllables

Key Words

The table below includes a key word to demonstrate each nasal sound. The nasal sound of each word is underlined.

Nasal Sound Key Words
m sound	/m/	me		air is blocked when the lips are pressed together
n sound	/n/	no		air is blocked when the tip of the tongue presses against the tooth ridge
ng sound	/ŋ/	sing		air is blocked when the back of the tongue presses against the soft palate

The n sound as a syllabic consonant

A syllabic consonant is a consonant sound that becomes the base sound of a syllable (meaning that there is no vowel sound included in the syllable). On an unstressed syllable, the n sound can become syllabic. For instance, there is no vowel sound in the second syllable of the words sudden or golden.