Aren't I?

[CadleCrap]

This has popped up on the Scottish pronunciation thread.

"Aren't I" never seems to be picked up as grammatically incorrect which it surely is (Are not I or I are not) or is it one of those things that has been in usage so long that it is now accepted as correct. Or is there some weird bit of the English language that allows this?

Scots say amn't I.

It's one of those things that has passed into normal usage.

Amn't I would, of course, be technically more correct.

I imagine it changed because "aren't I?" is easier to say than "amn't I?"

Even foreign students don't question it. You teach them that for a question tag like "aren't we?" "isn't he?" etc that you repeat the correct form of the auxiliary verb + the subject and no-one, in my 20 yrs of teaching, has ever said "hold on a minute, shouldn't that be "amn't I?"

Thanks for the reply. As a Scot I cannot imagine saying aren't I, it will always be amn't to me .

Language, isn't it amazing!

ScotsMum 1: You'll be having dessert. A meringue?

ScotsMum 2: I'm afraid you are. I'm having to watch my weight these days.

(with thanks to Barry McCryer)

Please link to the Scottish pronounciation thread! I am proud that we are correct in saying "amn't I". However it is often spoiled by the negative usage whuch comes out as "ah amny" or "a umny", as in "Ur ye gaun tae the perty?" (Are you going to the party?") "Naw, ah amny". (No, I am not".

And in my north west pronunciation it's half way between aren't and amn't, we say A'nt I ( but wouldn't write it this way).