Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Imma

Che e' la contrazione di I'm going to, se ho ben capito.
Come si pronuncia? Eye-ma?

 Come si pronuncia? Eye-ma?
Yes, if you want to enunciate the elision (or is that an oxymoron?) It even 
goes so far as AM-ma (Italian 'A') in very, very casual speech.
-- 
Joe/Joey da New York
English as she is spoken (and sometimes written) in the US

 Come si pronuncia? Eye-ma?
"Imma"? Mai visto, mai sentito.

):
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It's US blather.
It's usually followed by something like "....punch you inna nose."
I.e., it's really extremely sloppy speech (although I admit to using it when 
the situation demands it, such as, there is a nose needing to be punched -- 
figuratively, that is.)
I worked for a boss who, at least once a day, screamed "Imma tear his head 
off!" It made for fun workdays. :-)
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 It's usually followed by something like "....punch you inna nose."
I don't recall ever noticing this anywhere. I guess I'll have to
listen out for it.
"Ahm-a-gonna punch you" or something, ok. "Imma punch you"? Never ever
heard this on TV or in a film. Someone tells me characters in "The
Wire"
say it. At least for the first season or so I gave up trying to
understand what
the criminals were saying down to single word level.

 Come si pronuncia? Eye-ma?
Eye-ma. This originated with Americans imitating how Italian immigrants
spoke English, by adding vowels to many words.
Imma no lika you face. Imma no gotta da money.
Even the great songwriter Irving Berlin felt compelled to portray Italian
speech in this manner.
http://www.songlyrics.com/berlin-irving/sweet-italian-love-9-jun-1910-lyrics/
Joe from Massachusetts

 wrote in message
news:WGGwm.5361$Bl2....@newsfe14.iad...
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The more recent Broadway musical, "The Most Happy Fella", is the story of a
middle-aged Italian immigrant who is corresponding with a much younger
American woman. When she agrees to marry him, although they have never met,
he sings
"Hey, omma the most happy fella
In the whole Napa Valley,
In the whole Napa Valley,
The most happy fella, that's me!"
http://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/mosthappyfellathe/themosthappyfella.htm
Joe from Massachusetts

 spoke English, by adding vowels to many words.
Are you sure of this? It seems so strange to me. I read it was an "I'm
gonna" contraction, somewhere.

):
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In the context of the original post, it *is* a contraction of "I'm gonna," 
you're right about that.
There is also Joe's reference, which is (*was*, really; it's a little 
outdated or stereotypical now) imitative speech of Italian immigrants, which 
adds "-a" to the end of a lot of words. 
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Imma, Ima, or Omma is not a contraction for anything, but is merely "I'm"
rewritten with a superfluous "a".
"Imma gonna" is how Americans perceive the way many Italians say "I'm
gonna". Extrapolating from this, we have invented a whole language in which
by adding superfluous "a's" to words, we "imitate" how "Italians" speak
English.
Similarly, "Itsa true" = "It's true", "Shesa gone" = "She's gone", "Whosa
gonna helpa me?" = "Who's gonna help me?", "Whatsa da matter?" = "What's the
matter?", ."Whatsa you problem?" = "What's your problem?".
Far from being outdated, you will often hear many of these phrases used by
non-Italian English speakers making light of how they imagine some Italians
speak English. Of course they are and always have been stereotypical, but
they have existed for over 100 years, and they still exist.
Googling "whatsa da" or "whatsa you" or any of these phrases, you will find
many current references.
It is not by accident that this mode of speech has found its way into many
popular songs, TV shows, and films portraying Italians.
In 1974, Earl Butz, the US Secretary of Agriculture, criticized the Pope
with a bad joke in a bad accent heard around the world.
�At the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, Butz made fun of Pope Paul VI's
opposition to "population control" by quipping, in a mock Italian accent:
"He no playa the game, he no maka the rules."�
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Butz
Joe from Massachusetts

 
All that said, Joe, I respectfully disagree. I've heard it used -- I've used 
it  and I still use it -- in the sense of "I'm gonna" more times than I can 
count, and its use has *nothing to do with the imitation of Italian 
immigrants.* (How's that for alliteration?)
It's a very rapid, clipped (mis-)pronunciation of "I'm gonna." No doubt 
whatsoever there. You might have never heard it, but it surely exists.
It might be a Boston thing, but I suspect it's more widely used than that.
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