Eng, agma, or engma (capital: Ŋ, lowercase: ŋ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, used to represent a voiced velar nasal (as in English singing) in the written form of some languages and in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
| Ŋ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ŋ ŋ | |||
 | |||
| Usage | |||
| Writing system | Latin script | ||
| Type | Alphabetic and Logographic | ||
| Language of origin | Latin language | ||
| Sound values | |||
| In Unicode | U+014A, U+014B | ||
| History | |||
| Development |
| ||
| Time period | 1619 to present | ||
| Descendants | ʩ | ||
| Sisters | Ꞑ ꞑ | ||
| Transliterations | ng | ||
| Other | |||
| Associated graphs | n(x), ng | ||
| Writing direction | Left-to-Right | ||
| This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |||
In Washo, lower-case ⟨ŋ⟩ represents a typical [ŋ] sound, while upper-case ⟨Ŋ⟩ represents a voiceless [ŋ̊] sound. This convention comes from Americanist phonetic notation.
History
The First Grammatical Treatise, a 12th-century work on the phonology of the Old Icelandic language, uses a single grapheme for the eng sound, shaped like a g with a stroke ⟨ǥ⟩. Alexander Gill the Elder uses an uppercase G with a hooked tail and a lowercase n with the hooked tail of a script g ⟨ŋ⟩ for the same sound in Logonomia Anglica in 1619.William Holder uses the letter in Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters, published in 1669, but it was not printed as intended; he indicates in his errata that “there was intended a character for Ng, viz., n with a tail like that of g, which must be understood where the Printer has imitated it by n or y”. It was later used in Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet, with its current phonetic value. It was supposed to be in English but failed.
Appearance
Lowercase eng is derived from n, with the addition of a hook to the right leg, somewhat like that of j. Nowadays, the uppercase has two main variants: it can be based on the usual uppercase N, with a hook added (or "N-form"); or it can be an enlarged version of the lowercase (or "n-form"). The former is preferred in Sami languages that use it, the latter in African languages, such as in Shona from 1931 to 1955, and several in west and central Africa currently. In Isaac Pitman’s Phonotypic Alphabet, the uppercase had a reversed-N form.
Early printers, lacking a specific glyph for eng, sometimes approximated it by rotating a capital G, or by substituting a Greek letter η (eta) before modified to present form ⟨ŋ⟩ for it (encoded in Unicode as the Latin letter n with long leg: Ƞ ƞ).
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An 1856 text in Gamilaraay, using a rotated capital G as a substitute for ŋ. -
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Uppercase eng with the reversed-N-form on the Kingston Buildings in Bath, UK. -
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Lowercase and uppercase eng with the reversed-N-form of the uppercase used in a 1875 Gamilaraay text. -
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Eng used in a 1875 Gamilaraay text.
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Italic ŋ based on double-storey g as used in Horatio Hale's Ethnography and Philology (1846). -
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ᶇ ŋ ɲ ɳ: four "n"-based IPA symbols for nasal sounds.
Pronunciation of words containing eng sound
In most languages eng is absent in the Latin alphabet but its sound can be present in the letter n in words. In English, it is heard in the potential digraphs nc (hard c), ng (hard g), nk, nq and nx, often at the end of words. For the pronunciation of ng with eng, it can be /ŋ/ in words such as singer and hanged and when it is in final position or /ŋg/ in words such as finger and angle.
In British English, n is pronounced eng in the prefixes en- and in- when they are followed by c, g and q, as in encroachment, engagement, enquiry, incursion, ingredient, inquiry and others. In other English dialects, the n is pronounced /n/ instead. In many British dialects, the ng in strength and length is simply pronounced /n/, with g a silent letter, and the ng is otherwise pronounced /ŋ/ in those words.
Usage
Technical transcription
- Americanist phonetic notation, where it may also represent a uvular nasal.
- Sometimes for the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages
- International Phonetic Alphabet
- Uralic Phonetic Alphabet including U+1D51 ᵑ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL ENG
- Teuthonista phonetic transcription system uses U+AB3C ꬼ LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG WITH CROSSED-TAIL
- Rheinische Dokumenta, a phonetic alphabet for many West Central German dialects, Low Rhenish, and few related languages.
Vernacular orthographies
Languages marked † no longer use eng, but formerly did.
- African languages
- Bari
- Bemba
- Dagbani
- Dinka
- Efik
- Ewe
- Frafra
- Fula
- Ganda
- Manding languages
- Nuer
- Shona language†
- Songhay languages
- Wolof
- Zarma
- American languages
- Inupiat
- Lakota
- O'odham
- Austroasiatic languages
- Tonga
- Australian Aboriginal languages
- Bandjalang
- Yolŋu
- Languages of China
- Zhuang† (replaced by the digraph ng in 1986)
- Hanyu Pinyin † used ŋ as a short hand form of ng.
- Polynesian languages (all three using either ⟨g⟩ or ⟨ng⟩ when ⟨ŋ⟩ is not available on the keyboard)
- Anutan language
- Eɱae language
- Rapa Nui language
- Sami languages
- Inari Sami
- Lule Sami
- Northern Sami
- Ume Sami
- Skolt Sami
- Kildin Sami (during Latinisation in the 1930s)
- Turkic languages during Latinisation in the 1930s used Ꞑ ꞑ, sometimes considered a variant of eng.
- Kazakh language† (2019 revision of the Latin alphabet; replaced with Ñ in the April 2021 proposal)
- Mapuche language (Wirizüŋun script)
- Kalam languages
- Kalam language
Computer encoding
This section does not cite any sources. (August 2024) |
Eng is encoded in Unicode as U+014A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ENG and U+014B LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG, part of the Latin Extended-A range. In ISO 8859-4 (Latin-4) it's located at BD (uppercase) and BF (lowercase).
In African languages such as Bemba, ng' (with an apostrophe) is widely used as a substitute in media where eng is hard to reproduce.
See also
- Ng (digraph)
- Nh (digraph)
- g
Similar Latin letters:
- Ƞ ƞ
- Ɲ ɲ
- N n
- M m
- Ꞑ ꞑ
- Ɱ ɱ
- Ꜧ ꜧ
- ꬼ
Similar Cyrillic letters:
- Ӈ ӈ
- Ң ң
- Ҥ ҥ
Similar Greek letters:
- Η η
References
- David Crystal (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language
- Robert W. Albright (1958). The International Phonetic Alphabet: Its Backgrounds and Development, Indiana University. p. 11
- "Essay Archives and Poetry". Retrieved 10 June 2004.
- Everson, Michael; et al. (2002-03-20). "L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF).
- Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (2011-06-02). "L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF).
- Majnep, Ian Saem; Bulmer, Ralph (1977). Birds of my Kalam Country [Mn̄mon Yad Kalam Yakt]. illustrations by Christopher Healey. New Zealand: Auckland University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9780196479538. OCLC 251862814.
External links
- Practical Orthography of African Languages
- FileFormat.info – Fonts that support LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ENG (U+014A) and LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG (U+014B)
Eng agma or engma capital Ŋ lowercase ŋ is a letter of the Latin alphabet used to represent a voiced velar nasal as in English singing in the written form of some languages and in the International Phonetic Alphabet ŊŊ ŋUsageWriting systemLatin scriptTypeAlphabetic and LogographicLanguage of originLatin languageSound values ŋ ŋ ˈ ɛ ŋ In UnicodeU 014A U 014BHistoryDevelopmentN n𐌍N nŊ ŋTime period1619 to presentDescendantsʩSistersꞐ ꞑTransliterationsngOtherAssociated graphsn x ngWriting directionLeft to RightThis article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters In Washo lower case ŋ represents a typical ŋ sound while upper case Ŋ represents a voiceless ŋ sound This convention comes from Americanist phonetic notation HistoryThe First Grammatical Treatise a 12th century work on the phonology of the Old Icelandic language uses a single grapheme for the eng sound shaped like a g with a stroke ǥ Alexander Gill the Elder uses an uppercase G with a hooked tail and a lowercase n with the hooked tail of a script g ŋ for the same sound in Logonomia Anglica in 1619 William Holder uses the letter in Elements of Speech An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters published in 1669 but it was not printed as intended he indicates in his errata that there was intended a character for Ng viz n with a tail like that of g which must be understood where the Printer has imitated it by n or y It was later used in Benjamin Franklin s phonetic alphabet with its current phonetic value It was supposed to be in English but failed AppearanceLowercase eng is derived from n with the addition of a hook to the right leg somewhat like that of j Nowadays the uppercase has two main variants it can be based on the usual uppercase N with a hook added or N form or it can be an enlarged version of the lowercase or n form The former is preferred in Sami languages that use it the latter in African languages such as in Shona from 1931 to 1955 and several in west and central Africa currently In Isaac Pitman s Phonotypic Alphabet the uppercase had a reversed N form Early printers lacking a specific glyph for eng sometimes approximated it by rotating a capital G or by substituting a Greek letter h eta before modified to present form ŋ for it encoded in Unicode as the Latin letter n with long leg Ƞ ƞ An 1856 text in Gamilaraay using a rotated capital G as a substitute for ŋ Uppercase eng with the reversed N form on the Kingston Buildings in Bath UK Lowercase and uppercase eng with the reversed N form of the uppercase used in a 1875 Gamilaraay text Eng used in a 1875 Gamilaraay text Italic ŋ based on double storey g as used in Horatio Hale s Ethnography and Philology 1846 ᶇ ŋ ɲ ɳ four n based IPA symbols for nasal sounds Pronunciation of words containing eng soundIn most languages eng is absent in the Latin alphabet but its sound can be present in the letter n in words In English it is heard in the potential digraphs nc hard c ng hard g nk nq and nx often at the end of words For the pronunciation of ng with eng it can be ŋ in words such as singer and hanged and when it is in final position or ŋg in words such as finger and angle In British English n is pronounced eng in the prefixes en and in when they are followed by c g and q as in encroachment engagement enquiry incursion ingredient inquiry and others In other English dialects the n is pronounced n instead In many British dialects the ng in strength and length is simply pronounced n with g a silent letter and the ng is otherwise pronounced ŋ in those words UsageTechnical transcription Americanist phonetic notation where it may also represent a uvular nasal Sometimes for the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages International Phonetic Alphabet Uralic Phonetic Alphabet including U 1D51 ᵑ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL ENG Teuthonista phonetic transcription system uses U AB3C ꬼ LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG WITH CROSSED TAIL Rheinische Dokumenta a phonetic alphabet for many West Central German dialects Low Rhenish and few related languages Vernacular orthographies Janalif variant of eng is represented as N with descender An equivalent version is used in the Cyrillic alphabet Languages marked no longer use eng but formerly did African languages Bari Bemba Dagbani Dinka Efik Ewe Frafra Fula Ganda Manding languages Nuer Shona language Songhay languages Wolof Zarma American languages Inupiat Lakota O odham Austroasiatic languages Tonga Australian Aboriginal languages Bandjalang Yolŋu Languages of China Zhuang replaced by the digraph ng in 1986 Hanyu Pinyin used ŋ as a short hand form of ng Polynesian languages all three using either g or ng when ŋ is not available on the keyboard Anutan language Eɱae language Rapa Nui language Sami languages Inari Sami Lule Sami Northern Sami Ume Sami Skolt Sami Kildin Sami during Latinisation in the 1930s Turkic languages during Latinisation in the 1930s used Ꞑ ꞑ sometimes considered a variant of eng Kazakh language 2019 revision of the Latin alphabet replaced with N in the April 2021 proposal Mapuche language Wirizuŋun script Kalam languages Kalam languageComputer encodingThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message Eng is encoded in Unicode as U 014A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ENG and U 014B LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG part of the Latin Extended A range In ISO 8859 4 Latin 4 it s located at BD uppercase and BF lowercase In African languages such as Bemba ng with an apostrophe is widely used as a substitute in media where eng is hard to reproduce See alsoWikimedia Commons has media related to Eng Ng digraph Nh digraph g Similar Latin letters Ƞ ƞ Ɲ ɲ N n M m Ꞑ ꞑ Ɱ ɱ Ꜧ ꜧ ꬼ Similar Cyrillic letters Ӈ ӈ Ң n Ҥ ҥ Similar Greek letters H hReferencesDavid Crystal 2003 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Robert W Albright 1958 The International Phonetic Alphabet Its Backgrounds and Development Indiana University p 11 Essay Archives and Poetry Retrieved 10 June 2004 Everson Michael et al 2002 03 20 L2 02 141 Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS PDF Everson Michael Dicklberger Alois Pentzlin Karl Wandl Vogt Eveline 2011 06 02 L2 11 202 Revised proposal to encode Teuthonista phonetic characters in the UCS PDF Majnep Ian Saem Bulmer Ralph 1977 Birds of my Kalam Country Mn mon Yad Kalam Yakt illustrations by Christopher Healey New Zealand Auckland University Press pp 17 18 ISBN 9780196479538 OCLC 251862814 External linksPractical Orthography of African Languages FileFormat info Fonts that support LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ENG U 014A and LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG U 014B
