The "dropping of g" is really an incorrect term. There is no [g] in the ending-ing [iŋ];[28] what does take place is the substitution of [n] for [ŋ]. This occurs in baby speech, in vulgar speech, and in the speech of some sections of society. It is on no account to be tolerated.
The opposite mistake is made only by the uneducated, who pronounce kitchen as [kitʃiŋ], chicken as [tʃikiŋ], and sudden as [sʌdiŋ].
Notice the substitution of this sound by the uneducated for the unfamiliar palatal nasal [ɲ] in Boulogne [bulɔɲ], the uneducated [bulɔŋ],[29] and for the equally unfamiliar nasal vowel [ɑ̃] in the French word continent [kɔ̃tinɑ̃], the uneducated [kɔntinɔŋ].
For [n] becoming [m] or [ŋ] by assimilation, see § 49.
26. Consonants—continuants.
It will be seen that the articulations of these sounds are more difficult to analyse than those of the stops. There is, roughly speaking, only one way of closing a passage entirely; but there are various ways of closing it partially.
The continuants usually go in pairs, one being voiceless, the other voiced.
Lip continuants.—The breath passes between the two lips (hence the term bilabials); the tongue is in a position somewhat closer than the position, i.e. bunched up at the back (see § 43), and we may therefore call these sounds lip-velar continuants.
The voiced sound [w] is that commonly used in standard English, whether the spelling be w or wh. In northern English and in Scotch the voiceless [ʍ] is used where the ordinary spelling has wh.