Gregor!
YOU ARE DELIRIOUS! So said the nice man who meant hilarious.
Sylvia
Accents and Dialects
by snowbird 27 Replies latest jw friends
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wobble
I know we all take the piss out of accents different to our own, but do you find some accents, on members of the opposite sex, to be particularly alluring ?
I love a girl with a geordie accent WAy HAY MAN !
Wobble (the only man without an accent, I speak proper)
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aligot ripounsous
I'm not familiar with the way immigrant populations have impressed the English language but in the suburbs (banlieues) of the large french cities, the arabic North African population has incredibly imposed its twang to the popular working (or unemployed...) class language. One has to view a film made as late as in the early sixties to realise how popular language has evolved over a few decades.
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dorayakii
I used it as leverage when my mom would get after me for saying 'ain't' by insisting it is not a word.
It's interesting to note that "ain't" was originally an accepted contraction of "am not". The two nasal consonants "m" and "n" merged together into "an't", which eventually turned into "ain't". When we make tag questions in Standard English we notice that the first person singular contraction of "to be" results in an imperfect paradigm. There is no acceptable contractable form for "am not":
I am, aren't I?
you are, aren't you?
he is, isn't he?
In order to get around this problem, early grammaticians actually criticised the use of "aren't I?" in favour of "am I not?".
In English-English and American-English "ain't" is often used, whereas in Scottish-English and Irish-English "amn't" is just as common. Some modern linguists believe "ain't" should be reinstated into accepted grammar as the standard contraction of "am not" but only to be used with "I". The problem with this is that the contraction has gained a bad reputation because it has come to be used incorrectly in vernacular English as a contraction of "are not", "is not, "have not" & "has not" and is often used with pronouns other than "I" (i.e. he ain't done it / you ain't finished yet?). In some dialects it is even used to contract "do not", "does not" & "did not".
All these errors lead to the common misconception among early grammaticians that "ain't" was always incorrect in any situation, a misconception that left an indelible mark on the standard grammar of our language.
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snowbird
Wow, DoraYakii!
Like, Wow!
Sylvia
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DJK
How do y'all pronounce Thames?
I say, Tames. But I'm from New England where we say cah so I probably say it wrong. I never say bear. It's Bud, Buddy, brew, medicine or liquid lunch.
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dorayakii
Thanks Sylvia.
Grammar rules are often more complex and controversial than we usually think, and what was once accepted can become "bad grammar" and what was once criticised can become the standard.
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wobble
To my Ephraimite ears you are all still talking "Sit"
Love
Wobble (Sibboleth sibboleth, I am practising, nearly there )