![]() ![]() Meanwhile, back on the Billboard Hot 100, until last week the #1 song was Rihanna's "Rude Boy," which held the spot for more than a month. I caught myself saying Imna just the other morning, when I told my son, "Imna get some more napkins." In the final step, cluster simplification occurs once again, reducing Imna to Imma. This process is called syncope, and also happens in words like choc'late, veg'table, and int'resting. From Imana, it's a short step to Imna, as the unstressed middle vowel drops out. If you listen carefully, you can hear people say Imana all the time, although if called upon to write down what they said, you'd probably just write it as "I'm gonna" (or "I'm going to," depending on your acceptance of gonna). ![]() The first one is the simplification of the consonant cluster mg to just m, resulting in a form that you might spell Imana. The progression from I'm gonna to Imma involves two common phonetic processes. In fact, this Imma (also spelled I'ma, I'mma, Ima, and I'm a) is not the contraction I'm followed by a, but a contraction of I'm gonna - which, of course, is a contraction of I'm going to, which is itself a contraction of I am going to. ![]() That impression quickly disappears when you read the lyrics, which I won't quote here. For those unfamiliar with Imma, the song sounds at first like something the Sesame Street Muppets should be singing in a phonics segment (like this one). This word Imma continues to appear in almost every line for the rest of the song. Imma be makin' all them deals you wanna do Imma be chillin' with my mutha mutha crew Our resident linguist Neal Whitman investigates.įor two weeks last month, the #1 spot on the Billboard charts was held by the Black Eyed Peas' " Imma Be," which starts like this: Pay attention to the lyrics of the songs at the top of the pop charts these days, and you'll hear one slangy word used with surprising frequency: Imma (spelled in various different ways). ![]()
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