gonna

[vredes]

Dear people, is the word 'gonna' also frequently used in BrE and AusE? I watch Hollywood movies and it's used a lot that it leads me to think it's characteristically AmE. But apparently not as I watch some British production. How 'safe' is it to be used by non-native like me, say, in a first-time conversation with a person I just met? Thank you. And please correct my tenses if there is any mistake.

 

[Linguist__]

Dear people, is the word 'gonna' also frequently used in BrE and AusE? I watch Hollywood movies and it's used a lot that it leads me to think it's characteristically AmE. But apparently not as I watch some British production. How 'safe' is it to be used by non-native like me, say, in a first-time conversation with a person I just met? Thank you. And please correct my tenses if there is any mistake.

(Not a teacher)

In informal conversation, yes. In Scotland at least, I hear something similar to 'gonna' a lot, and also say it. I rarely hear 'going to' enunciated as clearly as that.

 

[Anglika]

My advice would be to avoid intentionally using it. It comes naturally as an elision owing to speed of speech since most speakers are too lazy to use full pronunciation.

 

[vredes]

Linguist: "I rarely hear 'going to' enunciated as clearly as that." What do you mean by that? Is there another way that is less clearly?

 

[RVMatt]

{Not a teacher but a listener}
Frequently, "going to" is pronounced less exactly as "goin tuh" with the final g in going dropped and the "oo" sound of "to" changed to an "uh" in this part of the US (Mid-Atlantic states). I agree with a previous post that "gonna" should not be intentionally used, as it is associated with persons with inadequate educations.

 

[vredes]

''Associated with persons with inadequate educations.'' Really? I thought it's only a matter of proper use of English as Anglika point out. At least that's how I understand his/her (?) points.

 

[Anglika]

''Associated with persons with inadequate educations.'' Really? I thought it's only a matter of proper use of English as Anglika point out. At least that's how I understand his/her (?) points.

Correct. But of course lazy/sloppy speech is often connected with lowgrade social position and poor education.

 

[Linguist__]

Linguist: "I rarely hear 'going to' enunciated as clearly as that." What do you mean by that? Is there another way that is less clearly?

I can't really write orthographically, but I'll illustrate with phonetics (in my own accent to be more consistent):

Going to - ['go.ɪŋ tʉ]
Gonna - ['go.nə]
Goin' eh - ['go.ɪn ɪʔ]
Gonnae - ['go.nɪ]

The most common in Scotland is the last one. All of them are simply 'going to' produced in connected speech. Anglika's point of not doing it intentionally is useful. It should occur because of fluency and 'laziness' - the speaker isn't consciously choosing 'gonna' from their lexicon.

 

[euncu]

My advice would be to avoid intentionally using it. It comes naturally as an elision owing to speed of speech since most speakers are too lazy to use full pronunciation.

Does the same applie to "musta, gotta, wanna, ain't" ?

 

[vredes]

Wanna, ain't, gotta are also products of connected speech?