Default unstressed initial syllable? re-

[Barbara Bernhardt]

The term 'dummy syllable' is old....also found in Magnusson, Nettelbladt
in the early '80s on Swedish acquisition, and therefore probably before
that. Maybe it was Smith who coined it - haven't looked.

Joe Pater wrote:

> Dear all,
> In both Gnanadesikan's and Smith's data, the pattern is one of
> replacement of an initial unstressed syllable by a default syllable
> (the term "dummy" is Gnanadesikan's, I think). I don't recall either
> one discussing the perseverative pattern.
>
> You can get a pre-publication version of Amalia's paper here - it's
> one of the first, and one of the best applications of Optimality
> Theory to phonological acquisition:
>
> http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?id=77
>
> Best,
> Joe.
>
> On Jan 10, 2005, at 3:32 PM, Brian MacWhinney wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>
>
>