"Budderman" Begins ...

Now that it is October, many little ones - and their parents - find their thoughts turning to Halloween, that end-of-October festival that my own sons always insisted was their favorite holiday.  Halloween was when they got to dress in masks and costumes.  Equipped with bags for the "treats" they would presumably receive, they also got stay out after dark and roam through the neighborhood, going from house to house, saying "Trick or Treat?" and generally collecting bagfuls of small-sized chocolate bars and other candies.  They LOVED it!  And yes, their mom would occasionally pinch a "treat" or two from their bags.

Prince Tyger will apparently dress as "Spiderman" for Halloween this year, judging from the photo that his Proud Papa sent to me.  He loves the costume so much that he literally does not want to take it off!

Even though he has grasped the "Spidey" concept and loves the outfit, he still has difficulty saying the word "Spiderman" - or at least he did while I was around during the summer.  He habitually seems to eliminate the initial "s" sound.  I believe that the situation will ultimately be self-regulating and am not concerned by it.  Right now, it's kind of cute.  One simply listens to the rest of the word sound and adds an "s" and, for the most part, his "language" is comprehensible.  Occasionally, he'll even substitute another sound for the "s," thus "gar" or "car" mean "star," which can be confusing when there is also a "car" around.  But his body language helps.  He'll point up, which is a big clue for the proper word.

Another thing that he seems to do quite a lot is interchange his "p" and "b" sounds.  Thus, this summer, when he was holding up a mug patterned with Spiderman, he proudly announced to me that it was his "Budderman mug."  Okay, so it took this slow-on-the-uptake Grandmom a few seconds, but she did finally get it!  He'll have to be very patient with me.

In light of these experiences, it was interesting to discover an incomplete article on the internet that discusses these linguistic anomalies, among others, for speakers of Asian languages who are learning English.  Among some of the most common pronunciation errors, the article's drafter cited the dropping of the initial "s" sound and the intermixture of "p" and "b" sounds.  While the article may be interesting and reflect this individual's experience, it generally refers to those who are already speakers of an Asian language who are learning English as a second language.  My grandson, who is Asian-American, has never spoken an Asian language, even though he has likely heard his maternal grandparents speaking between themselves.  His first spoken language is English.

Even more interestingly, one of the principal languages from his father's paternal lineage is Arabic, where there is no "p" sound at all.  The "p" sound is generally transliterated into Arabic letters as "b."  So there is an alternate precedent for that confusion.   Perhaps there is a universal consciousness at work here in our own little Prince Tyger, who is channeling ancestral memories, albeit unsuspectingly. 

Meanwhile, the object of this metaphysical speculation appears to be thoroughly enjoying life, reportedly talking from the moment he wakes up, with his first word being either "Wheels" (for his various wheeled vehicles) or "Dora" (for Dora the Explorer).

It is literally mind-boggling to imagine what "ancestral memories" his own descendents may have someday!  In the meantime, our very own "Budderman" dreams.  May those dreams be fruitful and happy ones!