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Word pair

thin · thing How to hear the difference

thin · thing7/20
你听到的是哪个单词?

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thin
US IPA: /θɪn/
thing
US IPA: /θɪŋ/
Speed
  • American woman, younger
  • American woman, older
  • American man, younger
  • American man, older
  • British woman, younger
  • British woman, older
  • British man, younger
  • British man, older
  • Australian man

What's different

Both start with the same th, so it's no help here. Listen to the end. Both end in a hum through the nose. Thin closes it off at the front, with the tongue tip on the ridge behind the teeth, so it stops crisply. Thing closes it with the back of the tongue, so it rings lower and further back, with nothing after it: there's no g to listen for.

American voices often add a second clue: before ng, the vowel rises toward the ee of see, so thing can sound close to "theeng", while thin keeps a short, relaxed i. Japanese ん at the end of a word is made far back, close to ng, which is why thin said as katakana シン can sound like thing.

研究: Nozawa & Cheon 2012 · Thomson 2018

听辨要点

NG 在鼻腔后部共鸣,N 在前部干脆地收尾。

听辨 N 和 NG: all 13 pairs →
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