aunt/ant

[Barbara Need]

I'm mostly in the "ant" (i.e. [aent]) camp, born in Tennessee (Oak
Ridge) and lived the next nine years near Cleveland, OH. When I moved
to Andover, MA, my fourth grade spelling teacher, who had asked what
we did over the summer, said "You mean "awnt" [ant], when I said we
had gone to visit my [aent] in Colorado.

I still use [aent] to refer to my aunts and prefer to be [aent]
Barbara, even for my New Englander nephews. However, I did notice
myself announcing once that I was going to be an aunt again with an
unexpectedly back vowel (not quite /a/). I only noticed it because my
audience was Chicago born and bred and didn't understand me.

Barbara

>"Ant," definitely.  Raised in Dallas, TX.  Still, no one in my
>family (Texas or Washington State via Iowa) used anything else.  I
>was surprised the first time I heard Auwnt.  Particularly surprised
>because it sounded more high-falutin', yet it came from my
>African-American girlfriend. Close to, but not exactly like the
>British, which sounds to my ears like "Ahnt."  I've never tried to
>emulate it, because my family would hoot at me.
>
>Julia Niebuhr Eulenberg <eulenbrg at u.washington.edu>
>
>On Wed, 29 Sep 2004, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: aunt/ant
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Oops, let's be careful when we talk about "backwoodsy" vs. "normal" rural
>>(whatever that means).  A very sophisticated grad student of mine from
>>Tennessee [tIn at si] spoke of his Aunt Jane using "ain't" [ent].  And the 'u'
>>in "aunt" isn't pronounced, is it?  Unless you're suggesting a diphthong in
>>"Auwnt Sadie"?  Rather, "aunt" is pronounced with the /a/ of "father,"
>>right?  (In fact, my father, a fussy old-timer, insisted on it; a
>>Minnesotan, he was taught by a New England schoolmarm who of course used
>>the /a/.  Minnesota is still divided in its pronunciation of this word, and
>>rural/urban, educated/uneducated, black/white, older/younger are not
>>determining factors, as far as I can tell.)
>>
>>At 10:40 PM 9/28/2004, you wrote:
>>>Eh-yop, that's what I mean.
>>>
>>>I'm not all the way up on how to show pronunciation, bear with me.  Lots
>>>of folks around here pronounce the u in aunt as African-Americans do,
>>>while my Scots-Irish Blue Ridge background has me saying *ant*
>>>instead.  Not the really backwoodsy *aint*.  Mixed with the normal rural
>>>colloquial speech, the drawn out aunt sounds like an affectation to my
>>>ears.  "Dang, ain't them dogs uh Auwnt Sadie's mean?"
>>>
>>>I don't know, maybe they're just trying to be funny and I'm too
>>>gullible.  Perhaps I should make this burning question my life's work,
>>>huh?  LOL.
>>>Marsha
>>>
>>>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>   Sender:       American Dialect Society
>>><ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
>>>   Poster:       Wilson Gray
>>><wilson.gray at RCN.COM<mailto:wilson.gray at RCN.COM>>
>>>   Subject:      Re: /wh/ - /w/
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>   On Sep 28, 2004, at 9:42 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>>
>>>  >
>>>  >> Rural-urban is indeed an important distinction
>>>  >> and now (finally) being paid attention to. I'm
>>>  >> bemused by the /ant/ (as opposed to /Ênt/)
>>>  >> pronouncers in Oregon. Tell us more.
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  > dInis
>>>  >>
>>>  >
>>>
>>>   dInIs, I think that she means that "aunt" is pronounced as though
>>>   spelled "ant" and not that it's actually pronounced [ant]. Though I
>>>   could be wrong, of course.
>>>
>>>   -Wilson