'Tisn’t?
No, 'taint.
No, 'tain’t.
AFAIK which one you use depends context. And I agree that it’sn’t is logical 
and have used it ironically in IM/email occasionally. But ask yourself - can you pronounce it? Just about, but it doesn’t sound natural. Hence no-one says it, and no-one develops contractions in writing first, so its never happened. I don’t know why it doesn’t sound natural; probably because it comes less often, or because you mind can only handle one omission at once.
But…but… if contractions were perfectly accepted parts of speech, then we would not have had all those Star Trek episodes with Data!
You montsters!
“Now, look, I’m only gonna sing this one more time…
Ohh…if you want to be possessive, it’s just I-T-S.
But if you want to use the contraction, it’s I-T-apostrohe-S…scalawag.”
-S. Bad
Is that some sort of Frenchified insult?
:dubious:
Well, they do in French. In English? How about this for a possible clitic sandwich (proclitic and enclitic):
y’all’re
Yes? No?
I think it depends on what part of the US you’re in. Here in Texas, it’s perfectly acceptable. Probably anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. (I think y’all is one of the most useful words around and I don’t understand the reluctance of all those pointy headed Yankee perfessors to accept it )
Gee, SftD, I guess you and your friends didn’t know that one should never end a sentence with a preposition! The last sentence ought to read, “We like used to be hard up with whom to like put.”
(This post brought to you on behalf of Dave ‘Mr. Grammar Person’ Barry.)
Take that back! I have no love for mountains!
Regarding this and the above post about “y’all’ve”:
Don’t confuse what happens in speech with what can happen on paper. Sure, “are” sounds more like “er” in rapid speech… and “have” sounds like “uv”, but you don’t write that way–not when you’re trying to write with a modicum of formality, anyway. Heck, in my dialect “always” is pronounced “oys.”
“Y’all’ve” would be pronounced as “yalluv,” not as the “'ve” of a true clitic would–“yallv”. That extra schwa means that you are not cliticizing in ANY sense, syntactically or phonetically, merely speaking quickly.
And definitely don’t confuse what can happen in French with what can happen in English. They are two different languages.
Moriah - Hence the use of the word “generally.” These are not hard and fast rules, as I’ve mentioned. Let your ear be your guide. But if you have a crap ear, then you can err on the side of caution and not use contractions.
Besides, part of the charm and power of the Gettysburg Address is that it uses common language. It was quite informal by that day’s standards, when politicians were expected to make long-winded, overly embellished speeches.
[sub]psst, pulykamell: You were right. I added the contractions. The originals have no contractions. I posted that as a ‘what if…’. p, -m[/sub]
While I’ven’t ever used “it’sn’t”, I’ve used other compound contractions. Unfortunately, I can’t recall any of them at the moment.
And tremorviolet, the problem with “y’all” is that it’s usually used in place of the gramattically-correct “you’uns” (pronounced “yoons”) :D.
Ooo…I get it. I’m a friggin moron sometimes.