till

[Jewls2u]

>>When my daughter was 7, I remember having an exciting discussion with her
about the pronunciation of "pterodactyl." She curiously pronounced its last
syllable as [tow], like in "toe" <<

It could be she heard it as toe because people tend to swallow the "tyl"
when saying pterodactyl which can sound like toe. It might also be she just
heard if funny the way that kids do. My friend's 4 year old son was singing
"Takin' care of business" along with the car radio. When he asked what the
words of the song were his son replied "I'm takin' care of biscuits..." in a
"duh, dad" sort of voice.

Julienne

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Salikoko S. Mufwene
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 7:03 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: till


When my daughter was 7, I remember having an exciting discussion with her
about the pronunciation of "pterodactyl." She curiously pronounced its last
syllable as [tow], like in "toe" (ignore the aspiration matter, on which I
am helpless ::)). I tried to correct her, saying it must be [til]. Just to
help this non-native speaker who just did not get it, she pointed to her
toes and asked me what the word is. I said "toe" and then she said, "now you
got it." I replied that "tyl" in "pterodactyl" did not have the same
pronunciation as "toe." Then, exasperated, she said, "Maybe in African
English you say [til] but in American English it is [tow]." I told her she
was right only about the way I said it not about the relationship between
"tyl" and "toe." She gave up, more exasperated with me now. The following
day, she returned from school with a partial concession, saying, "Daddy,
neither of us was right. My teacher said it's [t at l]", i.e., with a schwa.
This is definitely the way that the teacher must have pronounced
"pterodactyl" the first time in her class. I have no idea why she perceived
it as [tow]. The ongoing discussion on "till" just reminded me of this one
of many interesting linguistic discussions about native and non-native
competence with my daughter. She is still upset that I published a paper
about her language acquisition, using her nickname, and not obtaining her
permission.

Sali
on research leave in Singapore.


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Professor  Salikoko S. Mufwene
ellssm at nus.edu.edu (until Nov. 31, 2001)
65-779-1175 (Home); 65-874-3919 (Office)
Fax: 65-773-2981
I also receive email addressed  to s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
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