Imma

[svetlana14]

The guy pronounces "imma" at 00:09 [

] as /ˈaɪmə nə/ or /ˈaɪmə n/. In other words, I hear that he addes something to aɪmə just before pronouncing "teach you". Does he?

 

[5jj]

It's I'm gonna.

 

[svetlana14]

It's I'm gonna.

Just to clarify - does he pronounce "I'm gonna" or more contracted"imma"?

 

[5jj]

See post #2.

 

[emsr2d2]

In fairness, the "g" is very quiet!

 

[jutfrank]

Listen for the number of syllables, Svetlana. Do you hear 2 or 3?

 

[svetlana14]

Listen for the number of syllables, Svetlana. Do you hear 2 or 3?

Before "teach" I hear 2 syllables, which are /aim/-/ənə/. The stress falls on the first on. The "g" sound in /ənə/ is not audible that is why the "chunk" resembles "imma".

 

[probus]

I hear three syllables: I muh nuh.

As to "Ima" for "I'm going to" that's either AAVE (African-American vernacular English) or jokey imitation thereof.

 

[emsr2d2]

/aim/-/ənə/.

I muh nuh.

I don't do phonetic symbols but I have a feeling that the two things above read the same thing! Isn't "/ənə/" two syllables?

 

[5jj]

Isn't "/ənə/" two syllables?

It is.

 

[5jj]

As to "Ima" for "I'm going to" that's either AAVE (African-American vernacular English) or jokey imitation thereof.

It's far more widespread than that these days.

 

[5jj]

jutrank gave us a very useful reminder in another thread:

In casual speech, speakers run words together in such a way that the pronunciation changes radically. The auxiliary be going to is a good example of this:

I am going to (5 syllables)
I'm going to (4 syllables)
I'm gonna (3 syllables)
Imma (2 syllables)

If I were super-picky, I'd add I'mna (2-3 syllables) and Ina (2 syllables). I'd also note that these are not discrete pronuniciations, but points on a sliding scale that ranges from /aɪ æm gəʊɪŋ tuː/ to /aɪmə/, /aɪnə/, / ɑːmə/, /ɑːnə/. For many individual pronunciations, it is often difficult for the untrained listener to know exactly what sounds (or even how many syllables) have been uttered. Even a trained listener may well need a spectrogram for certainty.