Talk:Amn't

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Formed by analogy

Is there any evidence that amn't I formed "by analogy with" (and hence after) aren't you / isn't it? An alternative theory is that all three formed at the same time, along with shan't, hasn't, weren't, etc; with amn't I>an't I>ain't I>aren't I as later evolution in standard Englishes. jnestorius(talk) 22:10, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

I have edited the text to remove the suggestion that it came after (i.e. I have removed the word "analogy"). I also added a bit about standard English equivalents of "I amn't" and "amn't I", but now I wonder ... Maybe my new sentence should either have "ain't" added, or be deleted! Snalwibma 00:54, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
I've added the "ain't" versions. 4.235.117.133 01:27, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nonstandard?

Isn't "amn't" standard in Scotland and Ireland? Should it be described as non-standard? Makerowner 15:04, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

  • You're right. "Nonstandard" now eliminated from the article. Snalwibma 16:42, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

  1. What is the current standard Hibernian pronunciation?
  2. Excuse my pet theory, but is there any evidence for amn't being substituted with aren't due to similarity of pronunciation, despite the grammatical incorrectness?
--Rfsmit 18:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

I have just removed this recent addition:
... "aren't I?" is, strictly speaking, incorrect. One does not say, "I are." Arguments have even been advanced for "ain't I?" (used in other dialects) as prefereable to "aren't I?" "Amn't I?" although odd-sounding to most English speakers, is in fact the only grammatical alternative to the more formal "Am I not?" and for this reason should perhaps be encouraged more widely.
– because it seems to me an expression of opinion, and therefore a breach of the neutral point of view policy. FWIW, here is my POV on the matter: Even allowing that "I are" is incorrect, it does not follow that "aren't I" is also wrong. Language doeesn't work like that! Snalwibma 19:38, 23 August 2007 (UTC) I are not sure about that. 4.88.92.112 (talk) 02:50, 20 March 2008 (UTC)