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sayin', talkin', lovin', etc.

English translation: vernacular speech

09:11 Jan 21, 2009
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Music / spelling in music lyrics
English term or phrase: sayin', talkin', lovin', etc.
Greetings, can anyone tell me why do we often see the continuous tense of verbs written without the "g" in lyrics, when we normally do not pronounce the "g" sound anyway? Does anyone know when this kind of spelling began to be used historically speaking?
veratek
Brazil
Local time: 23:15
Selected answer:vernacular speech
Explanation:
This spelling is simply a representation of vernacular speech. It goes back several decades (at least five or six IMO) in US usage, originating AFAIK in literature and advertising.
It has become very common in popular US culture with its strong preference for informality.

Incidentally, 'we don't pronounce the g' is not strictly true: there is a difference in the pronunciation of (e.g.) sayin and saying, although this difference is not noticeable in the speech of persons with a 'soft' accent (e.g. typical US Southern accent).
Selected response from:

Ken Cox
Local time: 04:15
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3The "g" is normally pronounced
Jack Doughty
4vernacular speech
Ken Cox


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
vernacular speech


Explanation:
This spelling is simply a representation of vernacular speech. It goes back several decades (at least five or six IMO) in US usage, originating AFAIK in literature and advertising.
It has become very common in popular US culture with its strong preference for informality.

Incidentally, 'we don't pronounce the g' is not strictly true: there is a difference in the pronunciation of (e.g.) sayin and saying, although this difference is not noticeable in the speech of persons with a 'soft' accent (e.g. typical US Southern accent).

Ken Cox
Local time: 04:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, that's the issue, it's a question of accent. What I had meant by "the g is not pronounced anyway" is that the "g" in the continuous "ing" tense is not pronounced as in "fling." I hadn't really thought of the difference between the end sound for "spleen" and "skiing," for example.

Asker: (to clarify, it's not that I didn't know the difference between the sounds -- it's that, at first thought, I hadn't thought if one changed the spelling to an ending "-in," without an added apostrophe, it would alter the pronunciation rule).

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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
The "g" is normally pronounced


Explanation:
Or rather, the "ng" diphthong sound is pronounced, and it is not the same as "n".
The "n'" form was originally used in song lyrics to simulate certain local accents: Deep South or Western in the USA, Cockney and others in the UK.
Probably started about mid 19th century, I should think. It is now more widely used than that, as this slovenly way of speaking has infected more educated forms of the languaage/

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Note added at 58 mins (2009-01-21 10:09:55 GMT)
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...language.

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-21 10:27:21 GMT) Post-grading
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I see your native language is English. I presume it is US English. In UK English, there is no difference between the "ng" part of "going" and "fling".

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:15
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 40
Notes to answerer
Asker: I certainly pronounce "going" and "fling" quite differently! I say something very close to "goin'" which is a different end sound than a simple "in" ending, such as in "skin." I pronounce "skin" with a major "n" sound at the end. The "ing" at the end of going is softer than the "n" at the end of skin. I totally agree that a blanket statement is not possible, because of so many accent variations in the English language.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: For the beneift of non-native speakers, it's perhaps also worth pointing out the 2 different pronunciations of -ing, as exemplified in 'singer' and 'finger'
9 mins
  -> Thank you. [In German, it's always the latter. German "Finger" is like our "singer". In Russian, always the former: In "крекинг" (kreking, from the English cracking, used in oil refining), n and g are pronounced separately, more so than in "finger".
agree  David Moore (X): And what about the German "Singer/Sänger"? "-bringer"??
47 mins
  -> Thank you. Yes.
agree  Ken Cox: AFAIK (!) I pronounce 'ing' the same in (e.g.) going and fling (or at least very close to the same; the 'ng' dipthong is probably slightly more emphatic in 'fling'). IMO it's a questioin of accent, and a blanket statement is not possible.
49 mins
  -> Thank you. Yes. In general a UK-US difference, but with exceptions.
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