How do Southerners pronounce aunt?

How do Southerners pronounce aunt?

The first (ANT) is by far the predominant American pronunciation. The second (AHNT) is common in the Northeast, some Southern dialects, and among African Americans. British speakers today also prefer the second pronunciation (AHNT), according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Do New Yorkers say aunt or ant?

More specifically, New England (including Boston). If you look at the breakdown by state in the survey you cite, around 82\% of the people pronounce “ant” and “aunt” the same in New York and New Jersey, while only 14\% do in Massachusetts.

Why is aunt pronounced differently?

Aunt is another one that’s pronounced differently depending on where you’re from: If you say it “ahnt” you’re probably from Britain or one of just a couple parts of the U.S. (notably the Boston area). In fact, the “ant” pronunciation is the older one, but it shifted to “ahnt” in England after the colonies were settled.

How do you pronounce ant?

ANT & AUNT are pronounced /ænt/ and rhyme with can’t, pant, rant. AUNT can also be pronounced /ɔnt/ and rhymes with bought, caught, fought, taunt.

How do you say aunt in Celtic?

Aintin and Uncail, Nia and Neacht Aintin is the word for “aunt” and uncail for “uncle” but in the Irish kinship system aunt and uncle have a wider definition; in common kinship an aunt or uncle is the sister or brother of either the mother or the father.

What is the difference between aunt and ant?

Ant and aunt are two words that are often pronounced in the same way, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. They are homophones. An aunt is the sister of one’s father or one’s mother, an aunt is also the wife of one’s uncle, who is the brother of one’s father or one’s mother.

How do you spell aunty in Australia?

Aussies tend to use ‘aunty’ more, whilst the Brits use ‘auntie’. Both use aunty or auntie to refer to our Broadcasting Corporations, the ABC and the BBC.

How do you pronounce aunt in New England?

Like many New Englanders, I pronounce ‘aunt’ with a broad-a (i.e. the vowel in ‘father’). This is one of several ways the New England accent retains a linguistic connection to its semi-namesake (for most other Americans, ‘aunt’ and ‘ant’ are homophones).

Should it be aunty or auntie?

What the dictionaries say about aunty or auntie. The ever trustworthy Dictionary.com, Google, Wikipedia and the Cambridge English Dictionary redirect ‘aunty’ to ‘auntie’, so the latter is most likely more correct. The Merriam-Webster dictionary also does this, and claims the first use of ‘auntie’ was in 1672.

What’s the difference between aunt and Auntie?

An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. Known alternate terms include auntie or aunty. The male counterpart of an aunt is an uncle, and the reciprocal relationship is that of a nephew or niece.

Who says aunt vs ant?

African-Americans say AUNT and AUNTIE. , Native speaker of American English. Ant is the more common pronunciation of aunt in the U.S. According to Dialect Survey Results it is pronounced this way by 75.15\% of the population. It is pronounced as ahnt/awnt in parts of the northeast and the south.

How common is it for Americans to pronounce ‘aunt’ as AHNT?

At the end of the day, about 3/4 of the country pronounces “aunt” the same way they pronounce “ant.”. The Northeast (where I and most of my aunts live) is the region where “ahnt” is most common, but this amounts to about 10\% of the U.S. population.

What is the correct pronunciation of antant?

Ant was the preferred pronunciation in Great Britain when the English were first settling New England according to Auntie anxiety. In my experience it is pronounced, in the US, as ‘awnt’ more often that ‘aant’. [In the UK, it is generally either ‘ahnt’ or ‘ant’ depending on your local dialect.]

What is the difference between taunt and Ant pronunciation?

On one side was the English pronunciation like taunt and on the other side was the ant pronunciation and she wasn’t sure why there was that difference. She uses the taunt pronunciation and she feels most black people that she knows says aunt this way. The word tante when pronounced correctly is like taun.

What is the difference between “Ant” and “Ain’t”?

“Ant” is used in Northern England, Scotland, Western Canada and most American dialects, including General American. Many Irish people also employs the pronunciation but this is to be found mainly in Western and Northern Ireland. “Ain’t” is to be found in most parts of the Southern United States while “… (more)