Re: Why "aren't I"?

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:13:35 -0400, Harlan Messinger
<hmessinger.removethis@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:4gijihF1n9fosU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> in sci.lang:

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/,

Not for me: the first syllable is ['æ], and the second is
[mn.t] or [m@nt]. (And I've used the word.) I might also
accept a claim that the /m/ is ambisyllabic, though that's
not the way I perceive it.

(unless you're from Tbilisi?). Whether you perceive a vowel between
them, as in "common", or not, as in "amnesty", is up to you.

<Amnesty> is irrelevant: the /n/ is a syllable onset, not a
nucleus. Even if you really do split <amn't> between the
/m/ and the /n/, which I find hard to believe, the /n/ is a
nucleus, not an onset (unless, of course, you have an
epenthetic vowel between it and the /t/, in which case
you're not saying anything that I'd recognize as <amn't>).

[...]

Brian
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: No new Einstein
    ... Observe a sequence of clicks in the counter. ... couldn't tell at what time the nucleus is supposed ... All we can do is to calculate the lifetime. ... the decay time is roughly one year. ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Why "arent I"?
    ... Brian M. Scott wrote: ... two nasal consonants like 'm' and 'n' together" as a generalization? ... The sequence "amn't" doesn't sound particularly different from the sequence ...
    (sci.lang)