aunt/ant

[Mullins, Bill]

I grew up in Nashville, and have heard Black usage as:  Auntee (on-TEE).
Some friends of mine from Memphis have heard the same.  My parents are from
south central Tennessee (Bedford County) and East Tennessee (Marion County),
and I've heard both of them say "Ain't" for aunt.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Margaret Lee [mailto:mlee303 at YAHOO.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2004 6:12 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: aunt/ant
>
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: aunt/ant
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> I grew up in southwestern Virginia hearing my mother and her
> sister refer to their aunts as "ain'ts": "ain't Mary."
>
>
> Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:
>  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?
>
> Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
> Professor of English & Linguistics
>   and University Editor
> Department of English
> Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
> 757-727-5769(voice);757-727-5084(fax);757-851-5773(home)
> margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu   or   mlee303 at yahoo.com
>
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