Not hink dough

[ailbhe]

No fink zho
Not fink dough
No hink dough DAD

... "I don't think so," meaning "No, donwanna."

I love Emer's language development.

Comments

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

We've had a recent move from 'I want...' to 'I need...'

[sfred]

My nephew (14 months) has just learned 'Nah', combined with shaking his head. He's having great fun with it.

[thereyougothen.livejournal.com]

I love the way the emphasis there is on the "DAD". Like, I've said it three times now, aren't you even listening to me? Or that's how I'd have interpreted it in this house.

I now get in trouble with N if I use my favourite word of his: comfortee. he knows it's a baby word, and he's now comfortable, thank you very much.

[songster.livejournal.com]

My little J doesn't say fuffbungle any more. This distresses me more than it should. On the other hand, he's sufficiently fond of counting that I'm only allowed to have cuddles in multiples of 10 at a time, so that's a bonus.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

A second English-accented child!

[ailbhe]

Who'd'a thunk it?!

Actually, f for th is a fairly normal baby-talk thing in Ireland, and lots of babies do it and outgrow it. Which leads to very exciting prejudices when my relations met Rob. And presumably when I did, too, though I didn't realise it at the time and can't tell now.

I do pretty much *require* that my children can pronounce a range of th sounds but it's way too early to start thinking about it for Emer! Linnea has a variety available to her and slides between versions depending on whim, I think.

[merryhouse.livejournal.com]

Um.

I don't want to sound too stroppy here (especially just after reading that racism discussion), but...

*My* English accent has plenty of "th", THank-you.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Oh, so does mine!

I met Ailbhe's eldest daughter in Dublin a couple of years ago when she was two and a half, and I found the difference between her ths and those of a little boy a few months younger who'd always lived in Ireland quite astonishing. Obviously, I can hear the difference between various English Ths- and Irish ones, but there's something about small children doing it that really heightens the difference: they seemed to be approaching it from such different angles.

But Ailbhe says that the "f" sound for "th" is a fairly normal part of Irish children's development too, so perhaps I am generalising from too small a sample!

[ailbhe]

It's normal for babies in Ireland, and normal for some adults here! As is "not pronouncing" one's Rs.

I find it hard not to correct the kids' speech when they pronounce what I hear as lazy/baby talk but is actually just Rob's Dad's real accent. Closing L sounds was another place this cropped up.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Aw, my lovely ex used to write to me as "gewl" to transcribe that south-east W-instead-of-L sound.

[merryhouse.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yes! Rob refuses to believe he says "hospitaw".

One of the (admittedly several) reasons for not naming a child Paul was the thought of Rob's London/Essex family mangling the ending.

I don't pronounce Rs, I must admit. And paw/poor/pour all sound the same (at least they did; in my head they have been steadily diverging since living in Practically Norway) though merry Mary getting married don't.

[ailbhe]

Rob's doesn't. Nary a one. It can make him more difficult to understand sometimes.

My Irish accent has several. And a couple of different T-sounds, too.