Default unstressed initial syllable? re-

[Joe Stemberger]

Lynn Santelmann wrote:

> My son (age 3 1/2) is finally acquiring unstressed initial syllables. 
> The odd thing is that he seems to have a "default" unstressed 
> syllable, namely "re-". So, at our house we "remember" and "reget". I 
> am a "refessor". We go to "reseums".
> ...
> Neither use of re is something I've ever read about, and my quick lit 
> check didn't reveal anything either. Does anybody have any literature 
> on this? And could it be related to the somewhat sketchy 
> representation he seems to have for a lot of new words – we're getting 
> a lot of malaprops these days (snowflags for snowflakes, Dora the 
> Exploder, etc.)


As several others have noted, there are two similar reports in the 
literature.

In our book, pp. 463-465, we provide a discussion of the possible 
phonological underpinnings of such default syllables, as part of a 
general overview and discussion of other phonological effects within 
initial unstressed syllables. Most English-learning children initially 
delete such syllables. Then, when the child begins to produce the 
syllables rather than deleting, there are sometimes strict limitations 
on content. Default syllables (with restricted and set independent 
content) are unusual. Reduplication (with no independent content at all) 
is a bit more common (pp.465-466).

Bernhardt, B.H., & Stemberger, J.P. (1998). Handbook of Phonological 
Development: From the Perspective of constraint-based nonlinear 
phonology. San Diego: Academic Press.


---Joe Stemberger
Linguistics, UBC