Ain t is a colloquialism and contraction for am not , is not , are not , has not , and have not in the common English language vernacular . In some dialects ain t is also used as a contraction of do not , does not , and did not . The usage of ain t is a perennial subject of controversy in English usage English . Widely used by many people, and found in most dictionaries, ref See, e.g., http www.thefreedictionary.com ain t http www.merriam webster.com dictionary ain 27t http english.stackexchange.com questions 1327 why is aint not listed in dictionaries ref its use is often considered to be informal, nonstandard, or improper. Etymology Ain t has several antecedents in English, corresponding to the various forms of to be not and to have not that ain t contracts. The development of ain t for to be not and to have not is a diachronic coincidence ref Cite book last Cheshire first Jenny title Variation in an English Dialect publisher Cambridge University Press year 2009 page 53 isbn 0521117151 ref in other words, they were independent developments at different times. Contractions of to be not Amn t as a contraction of am not is known from 1618. ref http www.merriam webster.com dictionary amn 27t?show 0&t 1305953889 Amn t , Merriam Webster online. ref As the mn combination of two nasal consonants is disfavored by many English speakers, the m of amn t began to be elision elided , reflected in writing with the new form an t . Aren t as a contraction for are not first appeared in 1675. ref http www.merriam webster.com dictionary aren t Aren t , Merriam Webster online. ref In rhotic and non rhotic accents non rhotic dialects , aren t also began to be represented by an t . An t sometimes a n t arose from am not and are not almost simultaneously. An t first appears in print in the work of English Restoration playwrights. In 1695 an t was used as a contraction of am not , in William Congreve s play Love for Love I can hear you farther off, I an t deaf . ref http www.gutenberg.org ... more details
The contraction of negated Auxiliary verb Functions of the English auxiliary verb auxiliary verbs in English is most often achieved by suffixing n t , an abbreviated form of not , to the root of a verb with or without changes to the root. In nonstandard or colloquial language , the form ain t has particular prominence, while amn t is found typically in Ireland and Scotland. Standard contractions Contraction grammar Contraction s of negated auxiliary verbs in Standard English are formed by relaxed pronunciation reducing the negative grammatical particle not to n t , a clitic or suffix which is fused to the root verb form. The standard contractions for negation of auxiliaries are isn t , aren t , wasn t , weren t all from forms of be , hasn t , haven t , hadn t from forms of have , won t , wouldn t from forms of will , shan t , shouldn t from forms of shall , can t , couldn t from forms of can , don t , doesn t from forms of do , mayn t , mightn t from forms of may , mustn t from must , needn t from need , and oughtn t from ought . Of the above standard contractions, three involve changes to the form of the auxiliary. In the case of shall sha n t , a single final consonant sound l , spelled ll , is dropped. In the case of will wo n t , again the final consonant l , ll , is dropped, and additionally the preceding vowel changes both its sound o and its spelling i o . In the case of do do n t , only the pronunciation changes u o . Note that there is no standard contraction for am not . This is known in Linguistics as the amn t gap . All conjugated forms of be are subject to contraction even when used in a non auxiliary sense. All conjugated forms of have are subject to contraction when used as an auxiliary. In some dialects, have as a main verb is also subject to contraction, while in other dialects the negation is realised by the insertion of auxiliary don t . Etymology Shan t Shan t is the contraction of shall not . It evolved from shalln t which eventually evol ... more details
File Spark chamber.jpg thumb right A spark chamber at the physics museum of the Sapienza University of Rome . File CERN UA5 ppbar interaction at 540GeV.jpg thumb right A proton antiproton collision recorded using a spark chamber at the UA5 experiment , at CERN . A spark chamber is a particle detector , a device used in particle physics for detecting electrically charged Subatomic particle particles . They were most widely used as research tools from the 1930s to the 1960s, and have since been superseded by more sophisticated detectors such as drift chamber s and semiconductor detector silicon detector s. Today, working spark chambers are mostly found in science museums and educational organisations, where they are used to demonstrate aspects of particle physics and astro physics. Spark chambers consists of a stack of metal plates, placed in a sealed box filled with a gas such as helium , neon or a mixture of the two. When a charged particle from a cosmic ray travels through the box, it ion izes the gas between the plates. Ordinarily this ionisation would remain invisible. However, if a high enough voltage can be applied between each adjacent pair of plates before that ionisation disappears, then sparks can be made to form along the trajectory taken by the ray, and the cosmic ray in effect becomes visible as a line of sparks. In order to apply this voltage, a separate detector often containing a pair of scintillator s placed above and below the box is needed. When this trigger senses that a cosmic ray has just passed, it fires a fast switch to connect the high voltage to the plates. The high voltage cannot be connected to the plates permanently, as this would lead to arc formation and continual discharging. As research devices, spark chamber detectors has lower resolution than bubble chamber detectors, but could be made highly selective with the help of auxiliary detectors, making them useful in searching for very rare events. Related devices Streamer chambers are a ... more details
about the speech by Sojourner Truth the book Ain t I a Woman? book File Sojourner Truth c1864.jpg thumb right 200px Sojourner Truth Ain t I a Woman? is the name given to a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth , 1797 1883 , born a slave in New York State. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti slavery speaker. Her speech was delivered at the Women s Convention in Akron, Ohio , on May 29, 1851, and was not originally known by any title. In her speech, Truth argued that while American culture often placed White people white women upon a pedestal and gave them certain privileges most notably that of not working , this attitude was not extended to Black people black women. The speech received wider publicity in 1863 during the American Civil War when Frances Dana Barker Gage published a different version, one which became known as Ain t I a Woman? because of its oft repeated question. This later version was the one recorded in most history books. Different versions The first reports of the speech were published by the New York Tribune on June 6, 1851, and by The Liberator anti slavery newspaper The Liberator five days later. Both of these accounts were brief, lacking a full transcription. ref cite book url http books.google.com books?id 16rQl2WT gC&pg PA18 title Sojourner Truth as orator wit, story, and song page 18 last1 Fitch first1 Suzanne Pullon last2 Mandziuk first2 Roseann M. publisher Greenwood year 1997 isbn 0313300682 series Great American Orators volume 25 ref The first complete transcription was published on June 21 in the Anti Slavery Bugle by Marius Robinson, an abolitionist and newspaper editor who was present at the convention, and very interested in reporting about Truth. Robinson s full account of the speech included not one instance of the question Ain t I a Woman, let alone four repetitions of it. Instead, the only questions that Robinson recorded was Truth asking were ...can any man do more than tha ... more details
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