The word "ain't"

[Space60]

Is it true that the word "ain't" originated as a contraction of "am not" and then sometime people started using it in situations where it didn't contract "am not" and the word became stigmatized? I've read that this was the case.

[Zaarin]

I've never really understood why the contraction isn't "amn't"...

[TurkeySloth]

Most English speakers dislike the double nasal *mn. Originally, the *m was, rather simply, elided to form "an't." However, the vowel, eventually, lengthened to the current "ain't." Speakers of Scottish English have borrowed the Scots word "amnae" and are, therefor, the exception to English's aversion to *mn.

[anteallach]

I've never really understood why the contraction isn't "amn't"...

In some parts of Scotland and Ireland it is, pronounced /ˈamənt/ as you would probably expect.

But compare what happens to can and shall (especially the latter as it doesn't already end in /n/). In both cases, in the commonest English English forms the final consonant is dropped, and the vowel is lengthened: /kɑːnt/ and /ʃɑːnt/. (Note that this lengthening is dialectologically different from the TRAP-BATH split as it is much more widespread in England; from a British perspective these are better thought of as PALM words than BATH ones.) So in fact the expected form is probably an't, and in England that would mostly be pronounced /ɑːnt/. In non-rhotic dialects, that happens to be identical to aren't, and I think that's the usual explanation of how aren't I came to be used.

There are, of course, other dialectal variations. In particular, can't also has forms rhyming with ain't. In the local dialect where I live, couldn't and isn't often drop their medial consonants and become monosyllables; the former is occasionally commented on as the dialect also lacks the FOOT-STRUT split.

[Zaarin]

That makes sense.

[Space60]

I use "aren't" in the tag question "aren't I?". However *"I aren't" doesn't occur, it's "I'm not".

[Zaarin]

I use "aren't" in the tag question "aren't I?". However *"I aren't" doesn't occur, it's "I'm not".

I use "am I not?" because I don't mind sounding pretentious.

[mèþru]

When "u mad bro?" was a the height of popularity at middle school, I would say "Are you mad, or are you not? That is the question." in what I thought was British accent instead. I was almost chap in culture then (not knowing what chap culture is and not being interested in fashion of any kind even today).