Maya and I were driving home through the neighborhood yesterday, and people had their Christmas decorations out. Maya said: "Mom, it's going to be Christmas time soon." I said, "Is that right Maya?" Maya said, "Yeah, I want to tell daddy it's going to be Christmas time soon." I said, "OK. What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?" Maya said, "Um... some drums. And a car." I said, "Oh, but you already have a drum and some cars. Is there anything else you want?" Maya said, "No, I don't want nuffin for Christmas." I said, "You don't want any presents from Santa?" Maya said, "No. I don't want any presents." I said, "OK, that's fine. I'll just get your presents instead." Maya said, "No, you don't want any presents EITHER."
PS. Why is it that a 2 year old can say "eiTHer" just fine, but "noTHing" comes out "nuffin"?
4 comments:
I'm not sure if you really wanted an answer or not, but Andrea the linguist provides this insight: "because the /th/ in 'either' is voiced surrounded by vowels (which are always voiced). The /th/ in 'nothing' is unvoiced surrounded by vowels, so it takes more concentration to unvoice the /th/ when the preceding and following sounds are voiced." After getting some clarification, "voiced" means that your vocal chords vibrate. The /th/ sound in 'nothing' is the same as 'ether,' which is different than the /th/ sound in either.
Whoops, miscommunication. Revised answer: "my guess is that she hears there is a difference but hasn't created a physical representation for it so she moves to the next closest sound which would be /f/"
Does she also say "bafroom?"
She does say "bafroom" I think. I will check when I pick her up...
If it makes you feel better, Claire can't even say "nuffin" yet. She says alot but we have NO idea what she's saying. Maybe she's telling us she doesn't want any presents? Maybe she's telling us she has poop in her diaper? It's a toss up.
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