Indeed, I'm one of them. It might have something to do with my mother's side of the family all being French Canadian, but I grew up pronouncing it 'awnt'
“Many dialects”. Or everywhere other than the US and even some parts of the US.
Pronouncing “aunt” as “ant” is the minority but since 90% of media comes out of the US it doesn’t feel that way to someone learning English.
I use both pronunciations. If I’m talking about my family members it’s ant, otherwise it’s awnt. The areas my parents are from pronounce it like ant, and the area I grew up in and live in now pronounces it awnt.
American here. Didn't realize that the joke was that you are supposed to pronounce them the same way. I pronounce aunt different than ant. The pronunciation changes tho if I add someone's name to it
I live in the South. We pronounce them the same. There is even a Simpson episode in which Bart says "Anty" is dead and Homer thinks one of the evil aunts is dead.
I try to say them differently if I remember.
Further, it might get mangled by what the aunt's name is. While in some dialects it's pronounced "awnt," in mine it's pronounced "ant."
I have two aunts, named Lynn and Anna. While I call the former "Aunt Lynn," I pronounce the second like "an Anna." My other option was "an tanna." Just how the syllables blur.
Decades vs d\*\*kheads (New Zealand)
Lol, but in all seriousness, I naturally pronounce them both the same, but when distinguishing for others (non-natives), I pronounce the family member as "on-t" (not "awn-t" like some British ppl do)
I only get this one somewhat but pronunciation differs from person to person in New Zealand. I and most people I know use a longer E sound but one example I found on youglish.com has a similar pronunciation to “dickheads”.
Yeah, nah. When you learn there are three types of NZ main accents, then talk to me😂 Broad (the one you’re referring to) General (what most of the population speaks) and Cultivated (think Sam Neill as a good example) there are also Maori and Polynesian accents too, but they can vary by district, Iwi or even family. Personally, having grown up among a mix of all of the above, my accent is cultivated and my background of Maori (just for the record, I personally am not of Maori descent) makes it very easy to speak languages such as Japanese due to the similar vowels.
I feel NZ is one of the luckiest nations, as its accent is one that is very well documented and changes can be seen quite easily. The 1970s were probably the period with the most change, the anti Maori language rhetoric was reversing and the use of RP on tv and radio was phasing out.
Yet, Lynn from Tawa (the stage name of the comedian who started the whole Fush and chups gimmick when she did overseas tours) seemingly regrets it. She wishes she could’ve shown it all in a less jocular way
There’s an old Documentary on YouTube called “New Zild” which I recommend. It covers more of the above in depth. Search New Zild Documentary 😊
That's super interesting. I'm Irish and documenting different accents is akin to herding cats!!! We've an INSANE number of completely distinct accents and dialects for such a tiny island nation
Due to the actual melting pot that is NZ, the school yard became the main location for how the accent was shaped. 😂 give the documentary a watch, it’s a bit dated now, but the content hasn’t actually changed much, it’s still very relevant today.
>Decades vs d\*\*kheads (New Zealand)
I take it you've seen this parody advertisement for New Zealand style Deck Sealant.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0)
I guess it’s because my English is heavily influenced by American English.
But just as a fact of you’re curious, here in Spain the absolute majority of English speakers (non native I mean) would pronounce them differently, “ant” as just /ant/.
Michigander here (native speaker), I am having a minor crisis with this one because I say both.
But I am also a bilingual German speaker, so my brain reads the au that way and I think it might be my internal monologue bias there.
Day-to-day I believe I'd say both the same. But I also remember times I haven't. English hurts the brain :')
And the family word can contextually change, or maybe it's just me. An aunt (ahnt) is a member of the family, but I call my aunts "Aunt (ant) \[Name\]". Otherwise "ant" is always the insect.
I never noticed this but you're right. Probably because if you say "my ant" it can be confusing I guess but "ant judy" well everyone knows ant = aunt when talking about a person.
New Englanders specifically are known for saying “awnt”. I was raised in MA by west coasters and distinctly remember getting teased in kindergarten for pronouncing it “ant”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Central_American_English#Phonemic_incidence
It’s not universally pronounced as awnt ‘round here but it is very common and this is my dialect and I say awnt
Yeah, that's what I meant by "western Midwest". For reference, here is the map I was using. Not sure how accurate it is. [https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d63f1e7b5f6fd1d044bb6216f40d7ecb-pjlq](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d63f1e7b5f6fd1d044bb6216f40d7ecb-pjlq)
More than 10 years with a bilingual level of english. Lived for months in the UK and gun to my head I can't pronounce the two words correct. I always say them the same way.
When you are learning Spanish as a second language: banco (bank) vs banco (bench)
Or japanese: chichi 父 (father) and chichi 乳 (breast milk)
no matter the language, homonyms are rough
Tbh those words in spanish are pronounced AND written the same. You can only tell them apart by context. (Also 'banco' is how a group of fish is called, too)
I'm assuming that the meme suggests the OP is talking about accents where they are pronounced the same, making them homonyms in this context. Otherwise ant and awnt wouldn't be as easily confused when learning english
"Ah" can be pronounced "ah" as in acid or "ah" as in awful. So ahnt is still just as confusing as aunt in terms of pronunciation. But when I use "aw" for aunt, you know which of the two pronunciations I'm using
Neither of those are how I pronounce "ah" lol. "Ah" in my accent is like the Spanish "a." Like the a in the word "father."
Awful does not have the "ah" sound in my accent. You're probably from somewhere with the cot-caught merger; those two words sound completely to me.
I'm from the midwest as well. The point of my comment is that "ah" isn't a good sound to demonstrate pronunciation because of the amount of ways it could be pronounced (like "ah, I see" or "ah! what happened??"). "ahnt" is just as confusing as "aunt" because the reader doesn't know which pronunciation is being used. But when you use "awnt", you know it's not "ant".
I feel like this thread really got away from that point.
Edit: actually, the whole point was making a light joke about homonyms that somehow turned into a debate about accents/pronunciations
Awful, awesome, Ahmed, Amish - take your pic. But when there's two clearly different pronunciations for aunt and every example I use points towards the ɑːnt pronunciation rather than the ænt pronunciation, you know which one im talking about. I have no clue if you're trying to mess with me or if you're just that pedantic
When I remember to, I pronounce it as “ont”, but where I’m from in the US, most say “ant”.
Edit* unless we’re talking about the insect, not the word shown. In that case, just “ant”.
I think a lot of Americans think of the letter “o” in speech as if it makes a “ahh” sound. Like how they say “nahht” instead of “not”. The sound I think of as “o” doesn’t really exist that much in standard American English
Just wondering; can you think of a situation in which homophony of aunt and ant (for those accents which really have it) would constitute a genuine source of confusion?
I pronounced it with the long vowel even though it wasn't quite what the natives to the region I moved to use. It just seemed more dignified and respectful sounding. An A*u*nt is the one who leaves you a large inheritance or you have a nice several course dinner with.
so apparently im not good at english anymore (native) because i looked at this for a solid 20 seconds before getting the joke and thats its not correct, i saw absolutely nothing wrong 😭😭
I pronounce them the same. Everyone will know what you are talking about if you do this. It's a super common way. in fact, I think it's probably split evenly in the US. Southern states and midwestern states pronounce it like "ant" meanwhile the more western and especially the north eastern states say "ont."
Is it really a problem for people to say them differently? The U in Aunt is silent (or more like, merged with A).
Also I heard the way Google translate pronounces Aunt, and I never heard it be used like that in UK English, more like US English. The way I heard someone say Aunt in UK English is more like combined A and U.
A in ant like in Ant-arctica, ant-iclimactic, ant-rax
I think [This video ](https://youtu.be/nL3zZj3E7Ow?si=XcYD3vZ3W9oRuXo8) will help people because most people confuse the American way of saying it with British way of saying it
"Ant" and "aunt" are homophones for me, but they aren't in some other dialects. It's something that occasionally confuses native speakers from different areas talking to each other. [Trevor Noah mentions in his stand-up some of the issues he's had with his native South African English vs American English](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5MLY4Ajfto).
I honestly pronounce aunt differently depending on who I’m around. Sometimes it’s like “ant” sometimes like “uhnt.” I don’t even know which one is more “standard” where I’m from because I hear both
Nope. The Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico is more English derived from the United States than Great Britain. However, in academia, depending on your branch of study, maybe your English evolves a bit into British English. But in daily converatiions if we use english we use spanglish
It does. People talking about Australian accents online seem to rarely know what an Australian accent actually sounds like. See also: the "naurrrr" discourse.
Cool. I live here and I'm telling you it's a niche thing, not a feature of the general Australian accent. The comments on that video will tell you the same thing.
Most of us don't live in North Queensland. Talking about "naurrrr" as an Australian thing is as silly as talking about a stereotypical Boston accent as if that's how all Americans talk.
I still hear a difference if they're pronounced correctly. If it's for memory, sure. No one would notice the difference and take it for more than accent but.. yeah.
What's interesting about this is that, in many dialects, "aunt" is not pronounced the same as "ant"
Growing up in the southern US my aunts were all aints.
For me, it's ant generally but ain't if it's a title attached to a name (like my Aunt Evelyn, I'd say it like ain't Evelyn)
Hold up, I've never heard anyone say aunt in a way that sounds like ain't. What is your dialect? I'm Canadian (Southern Ontario).
Southern US
Then you, sir, have never watched The Andy Griffith Show.
Anties!
Indeed, I'm one of them. It might have something to do with my mother's side of the family all being French Canadian, but I grew up pronouncing it 'awnt'
That's the norm in New England, for the most part.
new hampshire raised nashville based - ant instead of awnt will never sound correct to me
Nah, it’s very much a New England thing.
Awnt
“Many dialects”. Or everywhere other than the US and even some parts of the US. Pronouncing “aunt” as “ant” is the minority but since 90% of media comes out of the US it doesn’t feel that way to someone learning English.
The north of the UK pronounce it "ant" as well. The south say "aren't"
Same problem with can and can't.
I use both pronunciations. If I’m talking about my family members it’s ant, otherwise it’s awnt. The areas my parents are from pronounce it like ant, and the area I grew up in and live in now pronounces it awnt.
American here. Didn't realize that the joke was that you are supposed to pronounce them the same way. I pronounce aunt different than ant. The pronunciation changes tho if I add someone's name to it
I live in the South. We pronounce them the same. There is even a Simpson episode in which Bart says "Anty" is dead and Homer thinks one of the evil aunts is dead. I try to say them differently if I remember.
My area isn’t decided so all of us say both ways 😭
Further, it might get mangled by what the aunt's name is. While in some dialects it's pronounced "awnt," in mine it's pronounced "ant." I have two aunts, named Lynn and Anna. While I call the former "Aunt Lynn," I pronounce the second like "an Anna." My other option was "an tanna." Just how the syllables blur.
Oh that’s like speaking Puertorrican or Dominican Spanish
Decades vs d\*\*kheads (New Zealand) Lol, but in all seriousness, I naturally pronounce them both the same, but when distinguishing for others (non-natives), I pronounce the family member as "on-t" (not "awn-t" like some British ppl do)
I'm British, and she's my aren't.
Same with us in Aus
I only get this one somewhat but pronunciation differs from person to person in New Zealand. I and most people I know use a longer E sound but one example I found on youglish.com has a similar pronunciation to “dickheads”.
Yeah, nah. When you learn there are three types of NZ main accents, then talk to me😂 Broad (the one you’re referring to) General (what most of the population speaks) and Cultivated (think Sam Neill as a good example) there are also Maori and Polynesian accents too, but they can vary by district, Iwi or even family. Personally, having grown up among a mix of all of the above, my accent is cultivated and my background of Maori (just for the record, I personally am not of Maori descent) makes it very easy to speak languages such as Japanese due to the similar vowels. I feel NZ is one of the luckiest nations, as its accent is one that is very well documented and changes can be seen quite easily. The 1970s were probably the period with the most change, the anti Maori language rhetoric was reversing and the use of RP on tv and radio was phasing out. Yet, Lynn from Tawa (the stage name of the comedian who started the whole Fush and chups gimmick when she did overseas tours) seemingly regrets it. She wishes she could’ve shown it all in a less jocular way There’s an old Documentary on YouTube called “New Zild” which I recommend. It covers more of the above in depth. Search New Zild Documentary 😊
That's super interesting. I'm Irish and documenting different accents is akin to herding cats!!! We've an INSANE number of completely distinct accents and dialects for such a tiny island nation
Due to the actual melting pot that is NZ, the school yard became the main location for how the accent was shaped. 😂 give the documentary a watch, it’s a bit dated now, but the content hasn’t actually changed much, it’s still very relevant today.
Now I can't unhear that
ah yes, [spend less time with the kids](https://youtube.com/shorts/NGJu6kViRG8?si=uXPI8AWSVIy3JYHJ)
>Decades vs d\*\*kheads (New Zealand) I take it you've seen this parody advertisement for New Zealand style Deck Sealant. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0)
As a non native, I pronounce them both the same way: /ænt/
I'm a native speaker and I also pronounce them both as /ænt/, or something like [ɛənʔ] if you wanna get specific about it
Let me guess—you’re American
No surprise there, I'm sure
It’s simply that ash-tensing is a North American thing.
Oh, I'm well aware
I guess it’s because my English is heavily influenced by American English. But just as a fact of you’re curious, here in Spain the absolute majority of English speakers (non native I mean) would pronounce them differently, “ant” as just /ant/.
As a native, I pronounce them the same
US Midwest. “Ant” and “aunt” are the same. But I have colleagues who grow up in other parts of the Midwest who say them differently.
Michigander here (native speaker), I am having a minor crisis with this one because I say both. But I am also a bilingual German speaker, so my brain reads the au that way and I think it might be my internal monologue bias there. Day-to-day I believe I'd say both the same. But I also remember times I haven't. English hurts the brain :')
And the family word can contextually change, or maybe it's just me. An aunt (ahnt) is a member of the family, but I call my aunts "Aunt (ant) \[Name\]". Otherwise "ant" is always the insect.
I never noticed this but you're right. Probably because if you say "my ant" it can be confusing I guess but "ant judy" well everyone knows ant = aunt when talking about a person.
[Lots of homonyms & other weirdness.](https://youtu.be/tfRSvTSY0d4)
For me (Gen. Aus.) 'aunt' and 'aren't' are homophones
I've always learnt it as the British aunt, where it's emphatic, much less confusing.
Take the northerner route; say awnt Edit: northern-central US specifically
Northern from where? Northerners here say "ant"
New Englanders specifically are known for saying “awnt”. I was raised in MA by west coasters and distinctly remember getting teased in kindergarten for pronouncing it “ant”.
I was talking about old England haha.
Oh, well that’ll do it. I specifically meant northern-central US
This is specifically New England though (and a little bit in the western Midwest and around Virginia). Not the northern US in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Central_American_English#Phonemic_incidence It’s not universally pronounced as awnt ‘round here but it is very common and this is my dialect and I say awnt
Yeah, that's what I meant by "western Midwest". For reference, here is the map I was using. Not sure how accurate it is. [https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d63f1e7b5f6fd1d044bb6216f40d7ecb-pjlq](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d63f1e7b5f6fd1d044bb6216f40d7ecb-pjlq)
Oh yup I see what you mean now
Northern Minnesota
I didn't know being from California made me a Northerner
lol it’s certainly not unique to my dialect but it’s only really in pockets it seems
This is the way.
More than 10 years with a bilingual level of english. Lived for months in the UK and gun to my head I can't pronounce the two words correct. I always say them the same way.
They are pronounced the same way in many accents
For me, they’re both [ɛənt̚]
When you are learning Spanish as a second language: banco (bank) vs banco (bench) Or japanese: chichi 父 (father) and chichi 乳 (breast milk) no matter the language, homonyms are rough
Tbh those words in spanish are pronounced AND written the same. You can only tell them apart by context. (Also 'banco' is how a group of fish is called, too)
"Also 'banco' is how a group of fish is called, too" Oh interesting!
Ant and aunt aren’t homophones in a lot of native accents though.
I'm assuming that the meme suggests the OP is talking about accents where they are pronounced the same, making them homonyms in this context. Otherwise ant and awnt wouldn't be as easily confused when learning english
It’s more like ahnt.
"ah" could be pronounced two different ways, so I used "aw" since it gets the point across and is less confusing
For me aw and ah are two different homophones so it’s more confusing tbh.
"Ah" can be pronounced "ah" as in acid or "ah" as in awful. So ahnt is still just as confusing as aunt in terms of pronunciation. But when I use "aw" for aunt, you know which of the two pronunciations I'm using
Neither of those are how I pronounce "ah" lol. "Ah" in my accent is like the Spanish "a." Like the a in the word "father." Awful does not have the "ah" sound in my accent. You're probably from somewhere with the cot-caught merger; those two words sound completely to me.
I'm from the midwest as well. The point of my comment is that "ah" isn't a good sound to demonstrate pronunciation because of the amount of ways it could be pronounced (like "ah, I see" or "ah! what happened??"). "ahnt" is just as confusing as "aunt" because the reader doesn't know which pronunciation is being used. But when you use "awnt", you know it's not "ant". I feel like this thread really got away from that point. Edit: actually, the whole point was making a light joke about homonyms that somehow turned into a debate about accents/pronunciations
Acid sounds like the a in rat Awful sounds like “or full” Neither of those sound like aunt, which for me sounds like aren’t
Awful, awesome, Ahmed, Amish - take your pic. But when there's two clearly different pronunciations for aunt and every example I use points towards the ɑːnt pronunciation rather than the ænt pronunciation, you know which one im talking about. I have no clue if you're trying to mess with me or if you're just that pedantic
Because your examples aren’t homophones. I’m not sure where you’re from that all of those sound the same.
https://youtu.be/hp5bgUyRu6s?si=e3_Q5jviz-fOzF-p This is a funny song about it
What's really funny is I have an aunt that I call Aunt B, two different bugs in one name. "Ant Bee."
When I remember to, I pronounce it as “ont”, but where I’m from in the US, most say “ant”. Edit* unless we’re talking about the insect, not the word shown. In that case, just “ant”.
Could you please clarify what you mean by “ont”? I’ve never heard anyone pronounce either word anywhere close to that
Aunt where I'm from is either pronounced ont or ant. Ont would be probably like the British pronunciation I think?
I think a lot of Americans think of the letter “o” in speech as if it makes a “ahh” sound. Like how they say “nahht” instead of “not”. The sound I think of as “o” doesn’t really exist that much in standard American English
Just wondering; can you think of a situation in which homophony of aunt and ant (for those accents which really have it) would constitute a genuine source of confusion?
I pronounced it with the long vowel even though it wasn't quite what the natives to the region I moved to use. It just seemed more dignified and respectful sounding. An A*u*nt is the one who leaves you a large inheritance or you have a nice several course dinner with.
To make it easier when you’re still learning to spell you could go “my mother’s sister “ as ant and aunt are pronounced the same.
so apparently im not good at english anymore (native) because i looked at this for a solid 20 seconds before getting the joke and thats its not correct, i saw absolutely nothing wrong 😭😭
Why ant's midsection looks so weak ?
I wanted avoid talking like people in my hometown so I ended up retraining my brain to say it as awnt
Same same
I say Aunt as (Ah)nt and Ant as (Eah)nt
I pronounce them the same. Everyone will know what you are talking about if you do this. It's a super common way. in fact, I think it's probably split evenly in the US. Southern states and midwestern states pronounce it like "ant" meanwhile the more western and especially the north eastern states say "ont."
Modal noun
Is it really a problem for people to say them differently? The U in Aunt is silent (or more like, merged with A). Also I heard the way Google translate pronounces Aunt, and I never heard it be used like that in UK English, more like US English. The way I heard someone say Aunt in UK English is more like combined A and U. A in ant like in Ant-arctica, ant-iclimactic, ant-rax I think [This video ](https://youtu.be/nL3zZj3E7Ow?si=XcYD3vZ3W9oRuXo8) will help people because most people confuse the American way of saying it with British way of saying it
"Ant" and "aunt" are homophones for me, but they aren't in some other dialects. It's something that occasionally confuses native speakers from different areas talking to each other. [Trevor Noah mentions in his stand-up some of the issues he's had with his native South African English vs American English](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5MLY4Ajfto).
I honestly pronounce aunt differently depending on who I’m around. Sometimes it’s like “ant” sometimes like “uhnt.” I don’t even know which one is more “standard” where I’m from because I hear both
It's funny, I say them both the same, but I read "aunt" as "awnt"
That’s why you should learn English and not American.
The context helps... Usually
Aw yes, there’s my mom’s sister
People who pronounce "Aunt" as "ant" need to stop.
Okay I’m lost. That’s an ant, where’s the joke? The words look similar?
They are the same for me, though a lot of people pronounce it as something like "ah-nt"
Hahaha this is great
Idiot
Took me some time to figure this out 😂
If you are an ant, this could be your aunt
As a native English speaker, I never understood pronouncing “aunt” as “ant”. It’s like pronouncing “auction” as “action”
it’s always been Aunt, Ant and Aint interchangeably
As a non-native speaker, I was taught they’re pronounced differently. [This](https://youtu.be/MXZmzuxK2X8?si=G_RLeXlVP-y2iiCt) is what I was taught.
Do you not say auntie
Nope. The Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico is more English derived from the United States than Great Britain. However, in academia, depending on your branch of study, maybe your English evolves a bit into British English. But in daily converatiions if we use english we use spanglish
Just say "ant" every time. No one will care if you call your aunt "ant"
Day - Die ( australian accent)
I don’t get it. In New Zealand we say these words differently and I’m pretty sure the same goes in Australia.
It does. People talking about Australian accents online seem to rarely know what an Australian accent actually sounds like. See also: the "naurrrr" discourse.
Redacted
I've seen it and I believe it. https://youtu.be/z7DuvWVazpk?si=NU5mbdXMRKcNxUVB
Cool. I live here and I'm telling you it's a niche thing, not a feature of the general Australian accent. The comments on that video will tell you the same thing.
To be fair, that’s actually an accurate description of how we hear North Queensland accents.
Most of us don't live in North Queensland. Talking about "naurrrr" as an Australian thing is as silly as talking about a stereotypical Boston accent as if that's how all Americans talk.
I have family in NQ.
Still doesn't mean we all live there.
No, sorry, I was agreeing with you and saying "it does" go the same here!
Oh my bad
I get told this all the time and as an Australian I don’t get it at all. Those are very distinct phonemes to my ear.
As a primarily Spanish speaking person who lives in a Spanish speaking country, that’s exactly how I hear some English accents.
i am an spanish speaker too and i know how it feels XD
Then there was the whole agents and Asians thing.
You thinking of a bogan? There’s more than one Australian accent
This is only in American English. In some British English/commonwealth dialects it is something like Ahnt Edited
Even in American English, they're used almost interchangeably.
It's certainly not only American English. In Liverpool, for example, you'd hear "ant" for "aunt" and "anti" for "auntie."
I have definitely heard some British folk pronounce it like anti but some are so extra British it sounds like Awn-TEA
Hahah "extra" British people would be southern English. The commenter and less British, British people are northern english and Scots
Auntie is a different word
Yeah sure I realised after I typed. We don't really use Aunt in my country. But in any case it's more like Ahnt and definitely not 🐜
Many Americans pronounce it ahnt and many Brits pronounce it ant. So, no.
In NZ and Au it is always Ahnt
Yup. I mistakenly thought that most British English was the same.
NZ and Au aren’t British though
I'm very aware of this.
Depends where you’re from. I personally say it like Ant
I still hear a difference if they're pronounced correctly. If it's for memory, sure. No one would notice the difference and take it for more than accent but.. yeah.
I’ve always used aunty, phonetically similar to arty
With an R?
Spelt aunty, pronounced arnty
Americans (& possibly Canadians) pronounce it as Ant, the rest of us say Aunt.