Why do black folks......

[B_Stronzo]

Apparently the "Queens English".

Certainly in your case.

Here - KNOW what you're talking about. Before you name call and segregate people by their accents. Do you say "New JOISEY" and "cooahfee" for coffee?

The pronunciation of "Aunt" is entirely regional. To anyone in a three hundred mile radius of here if you say "my ant" for "my aunt" they'd think you were keeping an insect as a pet.

[URL]http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png[/URL] aunt (help·info) - (1)(US) /ænt/, (UK) /ɑːnt/, (2) /ɑːnt/
Speakers with the trap-bath split invariably pronounce the word /ɑːnt/; however, those speakers without the split are not consistent. Pronunciation (2) preponderates in NewEngland and African American Vernacular English. The OED only lists pronunciation (2), although it lists an /æ/ alternative for most other words affected by the trap-bath split. Most American dictionaries list both.

People in Wiscahnsin pronounce the word "block" the way New Englanders say "black". Additionally there's a subtle difference between the way blacks generationally pronounce the word "aunt" - Oprah Winfrey (for example) says "ohnt". It appears to be pervasive in black parlance. Here it's more "ahnt". The difference is subtle but it's there.

If you're truly interested in this topic Bjorg I can recommend a book for you.

Blacks in the South also say "ax" for "ask", which is an old English form of ask.

Unknown to me until I read that CHG! Thanks. Good info.

 

[gjorg]

Certainly in your case.

Here - KNOW what you're talking about. Before you name call and segregate people by their accents. Do you say "New JOISEY" and "cooahfee" for coffee?

The pronunciation of "Aunt" is entirely regional. To anyone in a three hundred mile radius of here if you say "my ant" for "my aunt" they'd think you were keeping an insect as a pet.

[URL]http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png[/URL] aunt (help·info) - (1)(US) /ænt/, (UK) /ɑːnt/, (2) /ɑːnt/
Speakers with the trap-bath split invariably pronounce the word /ɑːnt/; however, those speakers without the split are not consistent. Pronunciation (2) preponderates in NewEngland and African American Vernacular English. The OED only lists pronunciation (2), although it lists an /æ/ alternative for most other words affected by the trap-bath split. Most American dictionaries list both.

People in Wiscahnsin pronounce the word "block" the way New Englanders say "black". Additionally there's a subtle difference between the way blacks generationally pronounce the word "aunt" - Oprah Winfrey (for example) says "ohnt". It appears to be pervasive in black parlance. Here it's more "ahnt". The difference is subtle but it's there.

If you're truly interested in this topic Bjorg I can recommend a book for you.



Unknown to me until I read that CHG! Thanks. Good info.

Just my luck to pick on Cape cods Miss Grundy!
Growing up in New York City I was very confused why the words that came out of peoples mouths was differnt than the way it reads. Like why did the people in Brooklyn say "Who-a" for the word that is spelled w-h-o-r-e. For the longest time I thought they were two separate words, whore and who-a, that meant the same thing.

 

[b.c.]

Well, you learn something every day. I trust you've learned about regionalisms, colloquialisms, dialect AND to avoid starting threads with "why do black folks..."

A bargain indeed.

 

[B_spotted_duck]

If you want a real answer, it's to do with linguistics.
...
I'm a psycholinguist, so I know what I'm talking about...if you want me to nerd out more...then PM me.

there was a recent thread on another group asking what people on lpsg do for a living... this would probably be the most unusual answer.

 

[Fleur]

there was a recent thread on another group asking what people on lpsg do for a living... this would probably be the most unusual answer.

Probably I have a masters (almost) in psycholinguistics and I'm moving on to my PhD in clinical psychology...I might be one of the most educated people here...but that doesn't make me better and school isn't for everyone.

 

[Fleur]

Well, you learn something every day. I trust you've learned about regionalisms, colloquialisms, dialect AND to avoid starting threads with "why do black folks..."

A bargain indeed.

Haha, yes...I think so.

 

[Fleur]

I understand and appreciate your perspective and knowledge as a linguist and I agree with your take on people who don't appreciate colloquialisms, variations on syntax, phonemes and the like.

But if one were going to question the pronunciation of "aunt", would not a linguist expect the question to be in the reverse? That is to say, wouldn't one more likely ask, "How would one get "ant" out of "aunt"? (Linguistically speaking)...

The short answer to why someone would say "ant" and not "aunt" is phonemic deletion and assimilation...you can pm if you want to know more.

The point is...both ways are fine ways to say aunt.

 

[2322]

Hmmm... I've always pronounced it, "ant." I've always thought, "awnt," sounded affectatious unless you're from another English-speaking country. Guess I was wrong.

 

[Principessa]

Say "Aunt" as if they were at and english tea with their pinky it the air? Like auh-nt. Just a simple question! Thats all.

Probably because it's the proper pronounciation of the word. :duh: I have always said 'ahnt' for aunt. Maybe that's because my mom was a teacher and a stickler for proper diction. Also, when I was little my dad had his own pest control business. So I have always been quite clear that an aunt is a person and an ant is an insect.

 

[koval]

I have allways said 'tante' instead of aunt. Hey I'm Dutch

 

[D_Portelay Porquesword]

I grew up in the south and I knew tons of black folks that referred to their Ahnt like that even though they were not blood related.

It's just a term of endearment is all.

 

[B_Stronzo]

Just my luck to pick on Cape cods Miss Grundy!

I'm not "picked on". Try to learn.

The thread wording is offensive "black folks"??

I think I hear Stephen Foster's Way Down Upon a Swanee River playing as I peruse the 'black folks'.

Growing up in New York City I was very confused why the words that came out of peoples mouths was differnt than the way it reads. Like why did the people in Brooklyn say "Who-a" for the word that is spelled w-h-o-r-e. For the longest time I thought they were two separate words, whore and who-a, that meant the same thing.

Even on Long "G-Island" ... one can hear Brooklynese.

The late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis had it too a bit. Listen at the YouTube clip how she pronounces the words "fork" and "Boston". It's pure Brooklyn. It must have trickled down from her Easthampton residence as a child.

The Brooklyn accent (to my ear) is an amalgam of the influx of immigrants to your area in the 19th and 20th centuries. One day listen to the late Brooke Astor on YouTube. She had the original New York accent which, I suspect, was quite close to how the Colonials spoke. It survives in some pockets here in Boston too to this day.

The late actress Katharine Hepburn had it.


We don't take a "be-ath" when we're in need of a good scrubbing. We take a "bahth". Same with "ahfternoon".

The "a" is flattened.

Regionalism in spoken language exists for very diverse reasons.
In the greater Boston area (and yet along coastal "downeast" Maine) the closest form to the orignal English accent to arrive at these shores survives to this day. I suspect in a generation it will be gone. Recall most immigrants in the 17th century to coastal Massachusetts were from East Anglia where the final "r" is dropped and the "a" is invariably flattened.

The entire previous generation in my own family never said "the time would be eight-thirty". They invariably said "the time would be 'hah' pahst eight". I had to learn NOT to say it that way or to pronounce "tomato" as I was raised "toe MAH toe" in order to mainstream myself. Indeed those last two examples are affectations since neither is the way I was raised to speak but I tired of hearing "oh! Do you say "poe TAH toe" too?

Well, you learn something every day. I trust you've learned about regionalisms, colloquialisms, dialect AND to avoid starting threads with "why do black folks..."

A bargain indeed.

exactamundo

Hmmm... I've always pronounced it, "ant." I've always thought, "awnt," sounded affectatious unless you're from another English-speaking country. Guess I was wrong.

We are an 'English-speaking country' (at least in theory).

The geographic dividing line (going west from Boston) between "ant" and "ahnt" is somewhere in the vicinity of Springfield, Massachusetts.

All of the Hudson River area and New York State says "ant".

They also do that "dahnah" pronunciation of the girl's first name "Donna".

When I heard it in Cooperstown I thought they were speaking of the individual who mends holes in stockings.

To me that's a "dahnah".

 

[Deno]

I like the Irish/English pronunciation of Shit, as"Shight".

 

[invisibleman]

I like how AUH-nt sounds but change up the pronunciation once in a while. If I like certain aunts, then, they get called AUH-nt but if I don't like them...they get called ANT. :biggrin1:

 

[Fleur]

I was just asking (for my own edification) how might a linguist go about teaching the pronunciation of the word (...teach both? teach local pronunciation? teach auh? teach short a - as in laugh? etc.)

There are two schools of thought when teaching a language. We'll use English as an example here.

There are two types of people when teaching English:

1. the English teacher
2. the linguist

Essentially, English teachers are full of shit. Language is not static. That is it evolves and changes with time, this includes words, syntax and morphology.

The English teacher is a prescriptivist (or Linguistic Prescrption)...they believe that there is a right and wrong way to speak or a 'proper' way to speak.

The linguist is a descriptivist, (descriptive linguistics) and is interested in analyzing (see semantics for how this is done and syntax) and describing how language is spoken in a given community at a given time (not a short period, like weeks or a few years).

In other words...English teachers are concerned with how language should be (keeping it static and enforcing social and politically correct norms (i.e. see who/whom argument) while the others, the linguists, declares how language is.

 

[Principessa]

I like how AUH-nt sounds but change up the pronunciation once in a while. If I like certain aunts, then, they get called AUH-nt but if I don't like them...they get called ANT. :biggrin1:

OMG! I thought I was the only one who did that. :biggrin1: I have also been known to call the ones I don't like...my uncle's wife. :tongue:

 

[naughty]

OMG! I thought I was the only one who did that. :biggrin1: I have also been known to call the ones I don't like...my uncle's wife. :tongue:

Why is it so often the aunt or uncle not of your own blood? LOL!

 

[invisibleman]

I like how AUH-nt sounds but change up the pronunciation once in a while. If I like certain aunts, then, they get called AUH-nt but if I don't like them...they get called ANT. :biggrin1:

OMG! I thought I was the only one who did that. :biggrin1: I have also been known to call the ones I don't like...my uncle's wife. :tongue:

Oh, Uncles are different. I call the uncles I admire...Uncle. But if I don't like an uncle...I usually pull a J.K. Rowling and refer to the mean uncle as
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". :smile:

 

[Principessa]

Oh, Uncles are different. I call the uncles I admire...Uncle. But if I don't like an uncle...I usually pull a J.K. Rowling and refer to the mean uncle as
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". :smile:

I have always liked my uncles, they were cool. So I never needed an alternative name.

 

[Principessa]

Why is it so often the aunt or uncle not of your own blood? LOL!

This particular uncle had better taste in cars than women. He was partial to the Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. If his wives had been cars they would have been a rusty, dusty, beat up Buick Roadmaster.:tongue: