My eastern N.C. relatives say "ain't," but most of the white southerners I know from Raleigh, Atlanta, etc., say "ant."

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of tim champlin
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2019 11:43 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [External] Re: How would Twain have pronounced "Aunt"?

I come from the northern midwest, lived 4 yrs. in central Missouri. Also lived in TN and GA for over 60 years. The only ones I ever heard pronounce Aunt with the ah sound of ont or ontie were the older, genteel generation of blacks, many of whom I waited on when working at the VA in Tennessee.
Tim Champlin
> On October 10, 2019 at 9:38 AM "Bird, John C." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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> In the South, there is also sounds like “ain’t.”
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> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10
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> From: Clay Shannon<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2019 9:21 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: How would Twain have pronounced "Aunt"?
>
>
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> Does anybody know, or have an educated guess, as to how Twain would have pronounced "Aunt"?
> As one pronounces the name of the picnic-addicted insect, or as the first three letters of "Ontario"?
> - B. Clay Shannon

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