Negative Verb Contractions in the Present 5 



han't, the lexicographical evidence within reach shows not a 

 little diversity. Was the sound the expected Eng. (a), Am. (k, 

 a), or was it (e), and the difference from ain't, hain't, for the 

 most part one of spelling only? Dr. Johnson, as so well known, 

 does not mark pronunciation, nor does Richardson. Knowles, 

 A Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Lan- 

 guage, London, 1848, gives (a, e) for an't, entering no ai)i't, 

 and for han't (a), recognizing no (hent). Webster's Diction- 

 ary, ed. 1855, gives (e) only for an't, han't. The Imperial Dic- 

 tionary (English), 1856, gives (e) only, like Webster's. Dr. 

 Murray, iV. E. D., 1885, Rives (a) only for an't, reserving (e) 

 for ain't. Of present American dictionaries, the 1900 Webster 

 gives (e) only for both an't and han't, mentioning, however, an 

 English han't; the Standard gives (a) only for an't, but (e) 

 only for han't; and the Century gives (a, e) for an't, with the 

 note, "In the second pronunciation also written ain't", and (e) 

 only for han't. 



Perhaps before affirming too much, there should be closer ex- 

 amination of lexicographical and other evidence that was pos- 

 sible from the material at hand ; nevertheless it seems probable, 

 despite the testimony, English and American, given above, that 

 the entry of the sound (e) for an't and han't is nothing more 

 than a legacy from the period when ain't and hain't were not 

 yet recorded, the older forms having to do double duty. (z'. 

 Knowles.) When has a followed by nt had the value of (e) ? 

 It would be difficult to believe that an't and ain't, forms wdiich 

 occur side by side in so many early and middle nineteenth cen- 

 tury texts, when orthography within individual authors is fixed, 

 were for the most part nothing more than variant spellings for 

 the same (ent). If the entries are to be exact, our American 

 dictionaries should probably adopt the New English Dictionary 

 {'1885) differentiation of an't and ain't, and furthermore clearly 

 distinguish han't ( jg, a) and hain't. The spelling of colloquial 

 and vulgar forms is generally pretty phonetic. An't is not now 

 written for (ent), and in the days when it was commonly found 

 was most probably pronounced as spelled. So with its com- 

 panion form. 



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