The "ng" sound in English and Māori shares a similarity in terms of their phonetic representation and their production in the back of the mouth. However, there are some differences in pronunciation and usage.
In English, the "ng" sound represents a single consonant sound known as a velar nasal. It is typically found at the end of words or syllables, such as in words like "sing" or "long." The sound is produced by touching the back of the tongue to the soft part of the roof of the mouth (the velum) and allowing air to pass through the nasal passage while blocking the oral cavity.
In Māori, the "ng" sound also represents a velar nasal, but it can occur at the beginning or in the middle of words as well as at the end. Māori has a distinct phonemic feature known as a prenasalized stop, represented by the letter "ng" or "ngā" (with macron) in writing. This prenasalized stop, written as "ng" in Māori, is pronounced as a combination of the velar nasal and a following stop sound (e.g., "ngā" is pronounced like "n-gah"). It differs from the English "ng" in that it includes a preceding stop sound before the velar nasal.
So, while both English and Māori have the "ng" sound as a velar nasal, Māori employs it in a broader range of positions within words and combines it with a preceding stop sound in the case of prenasalized stops. This distinction reflects the different phonological systems and patterns of the two languages.