Ain't

The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. The development of ''ain't'' for the various forms of ''to be not'', ''to have not'' and ''to do not'' occurred independently, at different times. The usage of ''ain't'' for the forms of ''to be not'' was established by the mid-18th century and for the forms of ''to have not'' by the early 19th century.

The usage of ''ain't'' is a continuing subject of controversy in English. ''Ain't'' is commonly used by many speakers in oral and informal settings, especially in certain regions and dialects. Its usage is often highly stigmatized and it can be used by the general public as a marker of low socio-economic or regional status or education level. Its use is generally considered non-standard by dictionaries and style guides except when used for rhetorical effect.

Etymology

''Ain't'' has several antecedents in English, corresponding to the various forms of ''to be not'' and ''to have not'' that ''ain't'' contracts. The development of ''ain't'' for ''to be not'' and ''to have not'' is a ''diachronic coincidence''; in other words, they were independent developments at different times.

Contractions of ''to be not''

''Amn't'' as a contraction of ''am not'' is known from 1618. As the "mn" combination of two nasal consonants is disfavoured by many English speakers, the "m" of amn't began to be elided, reflected in writing with the new form ''an't''. ''Aren't'' as a contraction for ''are not'' first appeared in 1675. In non-rhotic dialects, ''aren't'' lost its "''r''" sound, and began to be pronounced as ''an't''.

''An't'' (sometimes ''a'n't'') arose from ''am not'' and ''are not'' almost simultaneously. ''An't'' first appears in print in the work of English Restoration playwrights.Merriam-Webster, Inc
"ain't"
The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories. 1991. pp.7–9. In 1695 ''an't'' was used as a contraction of "am not", in William Congreve's play ''Love for Love'': "I can hear you farther off, I an't deaf". But as early as 1696 Sir John Vanbrugh uses ''an't'' to mean "are not" in ''The Relapse'': "Hark thee shoemaker! These shoes an't ugly, but they don't fit me".

''An't'' for ''is not'' may have developed independently from its use for ''am not'' and ''are not''. ''Isn't'' was sometimes written as ''in't'' or ''en't'', which could have changed into ''an't''. ''An't'' for ''is not'' may also have filled a gap as an extension of the already-used conjugations for ''to be not''. Jonathan Swift used ''an't'' to mean ''is not'' in Letter 19 of his Journal to Stella (1710–13): ''It an't my fault, 'tis Patrick's fault; pray now don't blame Presto.''

''An't'' with a long "a" sound began to be written as ''ain't'', which first appears in writing in 1749. By the time ''ain't'' appeared, ''an't'' was already being used for ''am not'', ''are not'' and ''is not''. ''An't'' and ''ain't'' coexisted as written forms well into the nineteenth century—Charles Dickens used the terms interchangeably, as in Chapter 13, Book the Second of ''Little Dorrit'' (1857): "'I guessed it was you, Mr Pancks", said she, 'for it's quite your regular night; ain't it? ... An't it gratifying, Mr Pancks, though; really?'". In the English lawyer William Hickey's memoirs (1808–1810), ''ain't'' appears as a contraction of ''aren't''; "thank God we're all alive, ain't we..."

Contractions of ''to have not''

''Han't'' or ''ha'n't'', an early contraction for ''has not'' and ''have not'', developed from the elision of the "s" of ''has not'' and the "v" of ''have not''. ''Han't'' appeared in the work of English Restoration playwrights, as in '' The Country Wife'' (1675) by William Wycherley: ''Gentlemen and Ladies, han't you all heard the late sad report / of poor Mr. Horner.'' Much like ''an't'', ''han't'' was sometimes pronounced with a long "a", yielding ''hain't''. With H-dropping, the "h" of ''han't'' or ''hain't'' gradually disappeared in most dialects and became ''ain't''.

''Ain't'' as a contraction for ''has not/have not'' first appeared in dictionaries in the 1830s and appeared in 1819 in ''Niles' Weekly Register'': ''Strike! Why I ain't got nobody here to strike....'' Charles Dickens likewise used ''ain't'' to mean ''haven't'' in Chapter 28 of ''Martin Chuzzlewit'' (1844): ''"You ain't got nothing to cry for, bless you! He's righter than a trivet!"''

Like with ''an't'', ''han't'' and ''ain't'' were found together late into the nineteenth century, as in Chapter 12 of Dickens' '' Our Mutual Friend'': "'Well, have you finished?' asked the strange man. 'No,' said Riderhood, 'I ain't'....'You sir! You han't said what you want of me.'"

Contractions of ''to do not''

''Ain't'' meaning ''didn't'' is widely considered a feature unique to African-American Vernacular English,Howe, Darin
"Negation in African American Vernacular English"
from Aspects of English Negation. p.185. although it can be found in some dialects of Caribbean English as well. It may function not as a true variant of ''didn't'', but as a creole-like tense-neutral negator (sometimes termed "generic ''ain't''"). Its origin may have been due to approximation when early African-Americans acquired English as a second language; it is also possible that early African-Americans inherited this variation from colonial European-Americans and later kept the variation when it largely passed out of wider usage. Besides the standard construction ''ain't got'', ''ain't'' is rarely attested for the present-tense constructions ''do not'' or ''does not''.

Linguistic characteristics

Linguistically, ''ain't'' is formed by the same rule that English speakers use to form ''aren't'' and other contractions of auxiliary verbs.Denham, Kristin, Anne Lobeck
Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction
2009. p.171. Linguists consider usage of ''ain't'' to be grammatical, as long as its users convey their intended meaning to their audience. In other words, a sentence such as "She ain't got no sense" is grammatical because it generally follows a native speaker's word order, and because a native speaker would recognize the meaning of that sentence. Linguists draw a distinction, however, between grammaticality and acceptability: what may be considered grammatical across all dialects may nevertheless be considered not acceptable in certain dialects or contexts. The usage of ''ain't'' is socially unacceptable in some situations.

Functionally, ''ain't'' has operated in part to plug what is known as the " amn't gap" – the anomalous situation in standard English whereby there are standard contractions for other forms of ''to be not'' (''aren't'' for ''are not'', and ''isn't'' for ''is not''), but no standard contraction for ''am not''. Historically, ''ain't'' has filled the gap where one might expect ''amn't'', even in contexts where other uses of ''ain't'' were disfavored. Standard dialects that regard ''ain't'' as non-standard often substitute ''aren't'' for ''am not'' in tag questions (e.g., "I'm doing okay, ''aren't I''?"), while leaving the "amn't gap" open in declarative statements.

Proscription and stigma

''Ain't'' has been called "the most stigmatized word in the language",Lynch, Jack
''The Lexicographer's Dilemma''
Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 2009. pp.15–16. as well as "the most powerful social marker" in English.Dillard, Joey Lee
''Toward a Social History of American English''
Walter de Gruyter. 1985. p. 86. It is a prominent example in English of a shibboleth – a word used to determine inclusion in or exclusion from, a group.

Historically, this was not the case. For most of its history, ''ain't'' was acceptable across many social and regional contexts. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, ''ain't'' and its predecessors were part of normal usage for both educated and uneducated English speakers and was found in the correspondence and fiction of, among others, Jonathan Swift, Lord Byron, Henry Fielding and George Eliot. For Victorian English novelists William Makepeace Thackeray and Anthony Trollope, the educated and upper classes in 19th century England could use ''ain't'' freely, but in familiar speech only.Görlach, Manfred
''English in nineteenth-century England: an introduction''
Cambridge University Press. 1999. ''Ain't'' continued to be used without restraint by many upper middle class speakers in southern England into the beginning of the 20th century.

''Ain't'' was a prominent target of early prescriptivist writers. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, some writers began to propound the need to establish a "pure" or "correct" form of English. Contractions in general were disapproved of, but ''ain't'' and its variants were seen as particularly "vulgar". This push for "correctness" was driven mainly by the middle class, which led to an incongruous situation in which non-standard constructions continued to be used by both lower and upper classes, but not by the middle class. The reason for the strength of the proscription against ''ain't'' is not entirely clear.

The strong proscription against ''ain't'' in standard English has led to many misconceptions, often expressed jocularly (or ironically), as "''ain't'' ain't a word" or "''ain't'' ain't in the dictionary." ''Ain't'' is listed in most dictionaries, including the '' Oxford Dictionary of English''"Ain't", entry i
Oxford English Dictionary
Accessed 5 June 2015. and Merriam-Webster."Ain't", entry in '' Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', E. Ward Gilman, ed., ''Merriam-Webster''. 1989. . However, Oxford states "it does not form part of standard English and should never be used in formal or written contexts" and Merriam-Webster states it is "widely disapproved as non-standard and more common in the habitual speech of the less educated".

''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'', published in 1961, went against then-standard practice when it included the following usage note in its entry on : "though disapproved by many and more common in less educated speech, used orally in most parts of the U.S. by many cultivated speakers esp. in the phrase ''ain't I''." Many commentators disapproved of the dictionary's relatively permissive attitude toward the word, which was inspired, in part, by the belief of its editor, Philip Gove, that "distinctions of usage were elitist and artificial".

Regional usage and dialects

''Ain't'' is found throughout the English-speaking world across regions and classes and is among the most pervasive nonstandard terms in English. It is one of two negation features (the other being the double negative) that are known to appear in all nonstandard English dialects. ''Ain't'' is used throughout the United Kingdom, with its geographical distribution increasing over time. It is also found throughout most of North America, including in Appalachia, the South, New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Upper Midwest of the United States and Canada, particularly in rural communities and the Western Provinces. In its geographical ubiquity, ''ain't'' is to be contrasted with other folk usages such as ''y'all'', which is strongly associated with the Southern United States.

In England, ''ain't'' is generally considered a non-standard usage, as it is used by speakers of a lower socio-economic class or by educated people in an informal manner.Castillo González, Maria del Pilar
Uncontracted Negatives and Negative Contractions in Contemporary English
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. p.34. In the nineteenth century, ''ain't'' was often used by writers to denote regional dialects such as Cockney English. A notable exponent of the term is Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle from George Bernard Shaw's play '' Pygmalion''; "I ain't done nothing wrong by speaking to the gentleman" said Doolittle. ''Ain't'' is a non-standard feature commonly found in mainstream Australian English and in New Zealand, ''ain't'' is a feature of Māori-influenced English. In American English, usage of ''ain't'' corresponds to a middle level of education, although it is widely believed that its use establishes of lack of education or social standing in the speaker.

The usage of ''ain't'' in the southern United States is distinctive, however, in the continued usage of the word by well-educated, cultivated speakers.Hendrickson, Robert
The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms
Infobase Publishing. 2000. p.6. ''Ain't'' is in common usage of educated Southerners. In the South, the use of ''ain't'' can be used as a marker to separate cultured speakers from those who lack confidence in their social standing and thus avoid its use entirely.

In the Merico creole of Liberia, it has become or .

Rhetorical and popular usage

''Ain't'' can be used in both speech and writing to catch attention and to give emphasis, as in "Ain't that a crying shame" or "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." ''Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'' gives an example from film critic Richard Schickel: "the wackiness of movies, once so deliciously amusing, ain't funny anymore." It can also be used deliberately for what ''The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style'' describes as "tongue-in-cheek" or "reverse snobbery". Star baseball pitcher Dizzy Dean, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and later a popular announcer, once said, "A lot of people who don't say ain't, ain't eatin'."

Although ''ain't'' is seldom found in formal writing, it is frequently used in more informal written settings, such as popular song lyrics. In genres such as traditional country music, blues, rock n' roll and hip-hop, lyrics often include nonstandard features such as ''ain't''.German, Gary D
Appalachian and African American Lyrical Traditions
from ''Aspects linguistiques du texte poetique'', David Banks, ed. L'Harmattan. 2011. p.154. This is principally due to the use of such features as markers of "covert identity and prestige".

''Ain't'' is standard in some fixed phrases, such as "You ain't seen nothing yet".

Notable usage

* "Ain't I a Woman?", 1851 speech by abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
* "If you want to know who we are", from ''The Mikado'' lyrics by W. S. Gilbert "We figure in lively paint: Our attitude's queer and quaint—You're wrong if you think it ain't." (1885).
* " Say it ain't so, Joe", headline of an article by a ''Chicago Daily News'' reporter about Shoeless Joe Jackson's involvement in the Black Sox scandal, later attributed to an anonymous young baseball fan.
* "You ain't heard nothing yet!" spoken by Al Jolson in ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences. That spoken line and others in the film, introduced the "talkies" and revolutionized the movie industry.
* " It Ain't Necessarily So", song from ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935); music by George Gershwin, words by Ira Gershwin.
* " Ain't No Grave", a 1934/1953 American gospel song attributed to Claude Ely.
* "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" has been used as the motto of Boys Town since 1943 and inspired a song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell and recorded by The Hollies, Neil Diamond and other artists.
* Winston Churchill, commenting on the 1954 portrait by Graham Sutherland, said "It makes me look half-witted, which I ain't".
* "Ain't That a Shame" is a song written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew, released by Imperial Records in 1955, which went on to sell over a million copies and introduced Fats Domino to a wider audience.
* ''Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be'', 1960 West End musical comedy about Cockney life.

See also

* English auxiliary verbs
* English usage controversies

References

{{wiktionary

Further reading

* Anderwald, Liselotte
''Negation in Non-Standard British English''
Routledge. 27 August 2003.
* "ain't", ''Merriam-Webster's dictionary of English usage'' (1995
pp. 60–64 online

American slang
British slang
Nonstandard English grammar
Slang of the Southern United States