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firmly against the palate as for g, just as the lips are not pressed together so tightly for m as for b.
(a) NG slender corresponds to “ng” in “sing” “wing” &c, and ng broad to “ng” in “song” “long,” &c. The slender ng is formed with the centre of the tongue, the broad ng with the back of it.
(b) The only difficulty about this sound in Irish is that it sometimes occurs at the beginning of words, but this difficulty is more apparent than real, because in actual speech the phrase, not the word, is the unit—i.e., we pronounce a whole phrase with one breath, just as if it were one long word. For example, a ngort is pronounced as one word with the tonic accent on the second syllable. The only difficulty, then, consists in placing the tonic accent, or stress of the voice, on the syllable after the ng, which never happens in English. However, constant practice with such phrases as “sing-on” “bring-in” “hang-up” “hung-up” accenting the second word in each phrase, will be of great assistance.
The student ought not to rest satisfied until he can pronounce such a word as “ngé” with facility. The following method will assist in acquiring this facility. Pronounce several times in succession “ingé,” putting the tonic accent on the “é.” Then, without altering the position of the tongue, omit the “i sound,” and pronounce “ngé” by itself.
(c) N.B.—When practising this sound be careful not to pronounce a “g” after the “ng.” For example,
