ne mozhno

[John Dingley]

Hi,

"An't" is the historically correct contraction of "Am not". Since
"An't" was pronounced with a long [a:], in "r-less" British English
it fell together with "Aren't" < "Are not" and, by and
by, came to written as "Aren't". Of course if one unravels "Aren't I",
one gets "Are not I", which is to nobody's liking.

Here's what David Crystal has to say on the subject, relying on the
mighty Jespersen:

http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

John Dingley

On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 7:45 AM, William Ryan <wfr at sas.ac.uk> wrote:

> l'zia was fine in Old Russian. For more recent use see Dal', as some of us
> aged pedagogues have mentioned before - under "moga" you will find Russian
> sayings which include ne mozhno; and l'zia has an entry of its own, marked
> as nar. So "l'zia" is archaic or folksy and therefore available as a
> stylistic alternative for ironic, poetic or just jokey use, or for
> historical colour.
>
> Incidentally, for Ashot, "mightn't" is normal spoken English, and "an't I"
> is regional.
>
> Will Ryan
>
>
> On 03/03/2011 15:04, Gasan Gusejnov wrote:
>
>> As an old Russian proverb says, "Is it forbidden by your religion to
>> google
>> in yandex?"
>>
>> Look for "Ne mozhno" in Pushkin's
>> Poltava<
>> http://yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=%D0%B2%D0%BF%D1%80%D1%8F%D1%87%D1%8C+%D0%BD%D0%B5+%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%BD%D0%BE+%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%8F+%D0%B8+%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%8E+%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8C&lr=178
>> >
>> Look for "l'zya" in Sumarokov or
>> Derzhavin<http://www.stihi-rus.ru/1/Derzhavin/23.htm>
>> .
>>
>> There is a name for such usage: solecism<
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solecism>
>> .
>>
>> Sometimes there is irony or self-irony in it, sometimes not.
>> Sometimes it is a violation of the standard or norm, but among people of
>> literacy it is a rather sublime usage.
>>
>> gg
>>
>> On 3 March 2011 15:39, Ashot Vardanyan<uiowashot at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>>
>>  It's as funny as the "l'zya" form used ironically or just as a joke for
>>> "mozhno". Of course, "ne mozhno" is not a standard, nor is "l'zya" at
>>> all.
>>> To
>>> me, sounds something like "mayn't" or even"mightn't" in English which
>>> sound
>>> terrible, don't they?
>>>
>>> Ashot Vardanyan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: anne marie devlin<anne_mariedevlin at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>>> Sent: Thu, March 3, 2011 4:07:14 AM
>>> Subject: [SEELANGS] ne mozhno
>>>
>>> Dear all,
>>> one of my native speaker students used 'ne mozhno' as a response.  I
>>> don't
>>> think
>>> I've come across that before and was always under the impression that  it
>>> wasn't
>>> possible.  Just wondering what your thoughts are on it.
>>> Thanks
>>> AM
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>>>
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