Re: Why "aren't I"?

Brian M. Scott wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:21:54 -0400, Harlan Messinger
<hmessinger.removethis@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:4gighjF1o1iidU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> in sci.lang:

Brian M. Scott wrote:

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:25:25 GMT, Thomas Carter
<T.Carter@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:pan.2006.06.29.15.25.24.849326@xxxxxxxxxxxx> in
sci.lang:

Anybody know why and how the usage of "aren't I" became common place,
rather than the expected "am I not"?

<http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001061.php>

Any comment about the evidence for Dr. Language's "English
doesn't like two nasal consonants like 'm' and 'n'
together" as a generalization? The sequence "amn't"
doesn't sound particularly different from the sequence in "comment", "common", "phenomenal", "amnesty",
"autumnal", etc.

'Phenomenal' and 'comment' don't have adjacent nasals, and
'common' is borderline. In 'amnesty' and 'autumnal' there's
a syllable break between them, which makes a considerable
difference.

"Amn't" is two syllables, with the break between the /m/ and the /n/, (unless you're from Tbilisi?). Whether you perceive a vowel between them, as in "common", or not, as in "amnesty", is up to you.

If the response is that "amn't" WOULD have been one syllable, then I'd respond with surprise that the solution wasn't simply to *make* them two syllables.

The objection is surely to having adjacent
nasals in the same syllable. I suspect that isn't actually
that they're both nasal, but rather that they're not
homorganic: ['hædn.t] is a lot easier than ['æmn.t] and
*['kæbn.].

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/voices/atilazed/a.shtml>
says that in Ireland the contraction has pronunciations of
<amn't I> informally spelled <ampta> and <aminta>, showing
two obvious ways to break up such a sequence: in the first
the /n/ has been either dropped or assimilated to the /m/,
and in the second an epenthetic vowel has been inserted
between the nasals.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: nasal m and n
    ... How does this statement square with syllabic nasals? ... Button has dental closure, then nasal release. ... nasalised vowels) unobstructed". ... often take in syllables; and in some languages, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Why "arent I"?
    ... together" as a generalization? ... doesn't sound particularly different from the sequence ... a syllable break between them, ... nasals in the same syllable. ...
    (sci.lang)