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Have you noticed that more and more broadcasters and television personalities are unable to say "ing" at the end of a verb? I can tolerate it when just regular people do this, but when people on TV butcher those words I cringe. If they can say sing and thing and king, why can't they say walking or talking?
Yes, I have noticed that, and not just with news people. In my opinion, it's a matter of "lazy" pronunciation. Producing that final "ing" sound correctly requires an additional movement of the tongue to enunciate the "g."
If you listen to professional speakers or narrators, they almost always get it right. That's one many things they learn when they train for that business. Same goes for singers of the more formal genres of music, I'd guess. Never been to a voice coach personally.
What I find curious is that there's never any problems with single-syllable words like "king" or "wing" or "thing." It's almost like, after the "effort" required for the first 2-3 syllables, the speaker is looking for a quick and easy way to finish the last syllable and move on to the next word.
It seems to be a fate reserved for the participle. I may be wrong, but people still say inkling duckling, gosling with the -ng sound intact, and these follow the same stress patterns. I haven't yet once heard even a gen-whatever, despite swoonin', sighin', and heavy breathin', gasp O, Ryan Goslin'.
Hm. But then there is stocking/stockin'.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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