Default unstressed initial syllable? re-

[Brian MacWhinney]

Folks,
     It seems to me that Lynn's son and Sharon's son show patterns that
are similar in one respect, but different in another.  Sharon reports
this:

> My son at age 3 also used a "default" unstressed initial syllable,
> except in his case the syllable was "buh."  So we ate buhsketti, and
> buhzagna,  about and around became "buhbout," and "buhwound"  aquarium
> was "buhkarium" etc.  He began by using it for unstressed schwa
> syllables in the initial position, but then began using it for other
> initial unstressed syllables.  For example museum became "buhzeum,"
> refrigerator was "buhfidgewator," and I was a "buhfessor."  He held
> onto this pattern for a long time, especially for the 3-4 syllable
> words.

Here we see the /buh/ substituting for CV structures in the target.
Words like "about" often have an initial glottal that makes them
qualify as having initial CV.  So this involves simply substituting a
simple CV for a more difficult initial CV.

Lynne's son is doing the same, but the difference is that the potential
source of the substituted CV was possibly an earlier epenthetic
syllable in forms such as "recycling rebins."  The earlier use of /re/
seems to reflect syllable-level perseveration rather than the use of a
filler.  In any case, the point is that the substituting /re/ in
Lynne's son case has a very different potential origin, although its
function at the time in question is similar.

The problem is that I think we need some way of distinguishing between
syllables that perform substitutions in the prosodic grid and syllables
that open up new slots.  To me, the term "filler" is limited to filling
a slot.  So, the second /re/ in "recycling rebins" would not be a
filler.  I'm not sure what "dummy" means in this case.

In regarding to all of these accounts, including  Smith (1973) and
Gnanadesikan (2004), it would be useful to know whether the
substituting syllable is always used for substitution or whether it is
ever actually  being inserted where no syllable existed.
Sorry, I don't have Gnanadesikan and I don't know where in my copy of
Smith to go to look this up.

Also, I am assuming that neither Smith or Gnanadesikan are reporting
the additional aspect of Lynn's son profile in which the filler
potentially derives from an earlier epenthetic.

---Brian MacWhinney