Re: Back to the Future (was: I'm back, sort of)

----- Original Message -----
From: "michael poxon" <m.poxon@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: Back to the Future (was: I'm back, sort of)


> "Aren't" is the standard negative in our local dialect, for instance "I
> aren't going anywhere". "Ain't" is never heard in modern BrEn as far as I
> know, except in a few 'aristocratic' families, but even there is felt to
be
> obsolescent. In the Great Yarmouth area (where I come from) the standard
> negative is "Int".
I'd spell [Int] as 'ain't', because I spell [En?] as 'ain't'.  No-one says
[Ejnt], that's true, but I'd spell the various reduced forms the same.

Incidentally, is the 'ai-' in 'ain't' come from French?  Just a thought...

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