Evolution of Language

[hells_half_acre]

I'm a language geek. Always have been, though I've never studied linguistics in any official capacity. I love the fact that Icelandic has Irish loan-words and that "sauna" is the only Finnish loan-word in the English language and we all pronounce it wrong.

I'm not a traditionalist though, the thing I love about language is that it is constantly evolving. It's true, some accents/dialects I like more than others...some changes I like and some I don't...but over all, I know that languages are living things and all living things ever do is change.

Most recently though, I've discovered my love for the new contraction: "Imma"

...or "I'mma" or however you want to write it. Popularized most recently by Kanye West - unwittingly. I've started noticing it more in things I read...and I've also noticed that even I occassionally say it. Usually my own speech is a bit antiquicated in comparison to North American standard English (I still use "shall" in everyday speech), but then again, I've always loved contractions.

I just love that the four words "I am going to" have been whittled down to four letters slurred together.

It comes close to my own personally favorite of "I'd've" which I use instead of saying "I would have" in sentences like, "I'd've done it, if you'd've reminded me!" ...see, it even has a nice little partner in "you'd've" (or "you'da", as I most often pronounce it)..."I'mma" doesn't have that.

Anyway...this post is pointless. I just felt like saying that I like "Imma"

P.S. Hehehe...I love this moodtheme image.

Comments

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I guess because I'm used to "gonna", and to me, I'm used to "imma" as "I'm" slurred- that is, "immagonna run down to the store" or perhaps "i'm uh gonna run down to the store". So it still strikes me as missing a word.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I think technically in that example it'd be an extra word, but I get what you are saying...it's all about how pervasive it is in our everyday language, and gonna has YEARS on Imma.

I have a strange relationship with gonna, because it actually DOES annoy me, but I think it's because as a kid whenever I said "gonna" I had some teacher making me repeat it with "going to" all pronounced properly...and god forbid if I should ever write it. :P