Origin of "wanna"

Well, it is not a lexical 'construction', if I take your meaning. It is simply a way to spell the casual pronunciation, and could be used to represent the words, want to, in transcribing any spoken dialect that pronounces it that way. That pronunciation is certainly common in the US.

I'd like to add that although the pronunciation is common in the U.S., the use of it in writing (except in dialogue) makes me CRAZY. To me, it is just laziness and a lack of respect to the people who are reading what you write. In my opinion, it's far too commonly used here (in things like "I wanna know what this comma is doing here") and can only confuse people who are learning a language

Hi Anon,

You asked:

Who knows origin of word "wanna" (=want to)? I mean is it american construction or english native one?

'Wanna' entered the English language already sometime between 1870 and 1899. It is heard in Britain just like in the United States.

That's interesting, Englishuser-- where did you find those dates?

Hi Mister Micawber,

To answer your question, I found them in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Thanks, EU. What does your Oxford say about gotta and gonna? Any dates or places? (Their online version is mum on wanna.)

My Oxford dictionary says that WANNA is american english word (or contraction), GONNA also is AmEn, but AIN`T isn`t.

Hi Mister Micawber,

'Gotta' and 'gonna' both originated sometime between 1900 and 1929, according to my Oxford dictionary. There are no regional labels for either of the words, but both are labelled as 'representing a pronunciation'. What is more, 'gotta' is labelled colloquial, whereas 'gonna' is labelled unstandard.

Hi Anon,

You wrote:

My Oxford dictionary says that WANNA is american english word (or contraction), GONNA also is AmEn, but AIN`T isn`t.

Which Oxford dictionary are we talking about? There are dozens of them.

'Wanna' is found in the British National Corpus. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's an American English word, I'd rather say it's more common in

What is more, 'gotta' is labelled colloquial, whereas 'gonna' is labelled unstandard.

Curioser and curioser. Thanks very much for the information. Which Oxford is yours, indeed?-- My Shorter Oxford (granted, it's a 3rd edition) has no entries for any of those.