“Aren’t I” just sounds awful to me, and I never use that. Besides, it disagrees in number.
What do grammarians say should be the “proper” contraction? Or, maybe they consider all contractions to be improper, so they never considered the question.
“Amn’t I” (two syllables) is technically correct, but people will look at you strangely unless you live in certain parts of Ireland. (“Ain’t” comes from “amn’t”.)
There is no technically correct, formal way. However, that doesn’t much matter, inasmuch as contractions really don’t belong in formal writing to begin with. Use what the people around you use when speaking. Use “Am I not,” or a paraphrase in formal writing.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Aren’t I would be grammatically incorrect, moreso than ain’t I, because it doesn’t agree in number between the verb and the subject pronoun, whereas ain’t I is correct as to number, but incorrect as to pronounciation.
And, yes, a lot of people say ‘aren’t I?’, but then again, a lot of people use poor English. I have never felt that that was a good reason to use poor English myself.
Someone enters the room and you politely say: Won’t you sit down? or Will you sit down? Are both correct? assuming that “please” is placed somewhere in each question.
“Contracted negative of the first person indicative present.”
The ‘interrogative’ part is moot since the contraction doesn’t work in any voice. And you need to specify ‘indicative’ and ‘present’ if you want to rule out I won’t and I wouldn’t.
I think we should all just start making the contraction and get everyone to use it. I’m making myself clear here, amn’t[sup]1[/sup] I?