[Lexicog] age-related pronunciation differences

[Kenneth Keyes]

Marc,

My adopted 3 and 1/2  year old son speaks Qazaq, but his Qazaq is very
unusual in that all his liquids (r, l) are pronounced as the semivowel /j/
and his syllable initial velars and uvulars are pronounced as (d). In fact,
his t>d.  As he learns English now, his English tends to be better
pronounced than his Qazaq. However, he has problems with consonant clusters
in English, such as "spoon", which he pronounces as /o.bun/. That is, he is
applying Qazaq phonology to some new English words (i.e. ban on consonant
clusters, vowel insertion, voicing assimilation, and vowel & rounding
harmony). Problems in pronunciation by older adoptive kids from orphanages
in Kazakhstan doesn't seem to be unusual, from my experience.

This is interesting since younger brother aged 2 1/2  (also adopted) is just
beginning to speak, and his velars and uvulars are mostly okay. But the /?/
(uvular fricative - French "r") come out as the voiced velar stop /g/. In
addition, his pronunciation of Russian is excellent, and he manages
??????????? very well (talk about consonant clusters)!!!

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Fryd [mailto:marc.fryd at univ-poitiers.fr]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2004 1:52 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] age-related pronunciation differences

Well, to some extent, modern French also shows some level of age variation
in the presence (some older speakers) or absence (all younger speakers) of
a distinct phonetic gemination of consonants in words like "illustrer"
('illustrate'). Or again in the retention of a full syllabic value of
<-ci-> = /sij/ (older speakers) in "remercier". This so-called "classical"
pronunciation was indeed the norm in my younger days when reading poetry of
performing plays. Strict observance of this norm now appears to be a thing
of the past, as far as I can judge.
Regards to list members.
Marc

At 18:58 29/06/2004, you wrote:
>How have you been entering pronunciations of words in dictionaries when the
>pronunciations vary by age?
>
>Let me illustrate: the traditional (and still widespread) pronunciation for
>'old woman' in Cheyenne is mâhtamâhaahe where the â indicates a voiceless
>syllable word-initially. Younger speakers do not know about the voiceless
>syllable and pronounce the word without it, as tamâhaahe. Older speakers
who
>help check the dictionary will say that the shorter form is incorrect and
>probably would not want it in the Cheyenne dictionary. However, the shorter
>pronunciation is widespread among the youngest speakers.
>
>Thanks,
>Wayne Leman
>Cheyenne dictionary project
>
>
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Marc Fryd
Université de Poitiers
95 avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers
Tel:
Work: 33(0)5 49 45 48 11
Cell: 33(0)6 76 28 18 50
E-mail:  Marc.Fryd at univ-poitiers.fr





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