Default unstressed initial syllable? re-

[Patricia Donegan]

Hi, Lynn,
   Amahl Smith (Neil Smith's son) used [rA] (A = schwa), and the child
described by Amalia Gnanadesikan used [fA] or [fI], as a sort of dummy
word-initial unstressed syllable.
   Two other cases I'm aware of are John (son of David) Stampe's use of
[tu] or [tA] for an initial unstressed syllable ([tutar] for guitar,
[tAkAmbAs tuhaido] for Columbus Ohio, etc.), and John Ross' son's use of
[mA] in similar contexts.  Neither is, as far as I know, reported in the
literature, though.
   A possible source for such dummy syllables might be an early
unstressed syllable in a 'favorite' word.  (Or could they come from the
child's first unstressed initial syllable?) Gnanadesikan notes that [fA}
or [fI]  first occurred in [fAgEti] 'spaghetti', and Ross's [mA]
appeared to occur first in [mAgini] 'Lamborghini' (a toy car).  Such
sources would make the form of the syllable pretty unpredictable across
children.
   You might also want to look at Ann Peters and Lise Menn's 1993
article in Language on 'filler syllables' (though this is more concerned
with their grammatical than with purely phonological use of such fillers).

Patricia Donegan