Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic

--- On Thu, 2/5/09, bmscotttg <BMScott@...> wrote:

> From: bmscotttg <BMScott@...>
> Subject: [tied] Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, February 5, 2009, 11:41 AM
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Suppose 'ain't I' for 'aren't
> I' spread in English, some people might
> > come up with *'amn't I'. [...]
>
> No asterisk. <Amn't I> is found in some
> dialects, including, if I
> remember correctly, Scottish English and Hiberno-English.
> I've also
> heard it from young children.
>
> Brian

amn't seems to have been very common in Early Modern English --at least judging by English literature of the 1600s and 1700s.
But whenever I hear "Aren't I", it makes me cringe and answer, "Yes, you am."