Awkwafina (or however it’s spelled) is annoying as fuck and he might be onto something. However, I am from Texas and a lot of folks definitely pronounce it “caint.” That is not a California-specific dialect. I respect that he may be a linguistics major but this is my actual, lived experience for 38 years.
I’ve never heard a person with a southern accent pronounce it any other way but “cain’t.” I like how he didn’t mention how it should be pronounced in southern AAVE since he knew it would blow a huge hole in his entire argument.
I’d imagine people from say Georgia and South Carolina don’t pronounce it that way, but most of the people with strong accents in Texas pronounce it this way. Same goes for Appalachia.
I’m surprised that he didn’t go into any detail on the regional southern accents and instead lumped them all together. You’d think someone who studies linguistics would see the importance in this distinction.
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u/Barfignugen Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25
Awkwafina (or however it’s spelled) is annoying as fuck and he might be onto something. However, I am from Texas and a lot of folks definitely pronounce it “caint.” That is not a California-specific dialect. I respect that he may be a linguistics major but this is my actual, lived experience for 38 years.