C₁V₁(C₁V₂)

Every Child Ready …
Originally uploaded by Beaufort County Library (SC)

With very few exceptions (mainly /(w)uf/ ‘dog’ and /ba?dabade/ ‘TV’), Anna’s vocabulary consists of words that adhere to the syllable structure C?V?(C?V?).

In other words, she uses some monosyllabic words of the structure CV(V), e.g.:

/ka/ ‘cat, tiger, lion, car’
/na(i)/ ‘no’
/mi/ ‘my, drink’
/pi/ ‘bed, sleepy’
/?a/ ‘meat, sausage’
/m?/ ‘sheep’ [from Danish mæh ‘bah’]
/t?a/ ‘toe’ [from Danish tæer ‘toes’]
/?ai/ ‘sibling’ [from ‘guys’]

/te/ ‘more’ [from Danish til ‘to’]

Other words are of the structure C?V?C?V?, that is, a consonant, then a vowel, then the same consonant, and then a vowel (not necessarily the same one). Some examples:

/?dade/ ‘daddy’
/?mama/ ‘mum’
/?t?te/ (earlier /?t?de/) ‘teddy’
/?nana/ ‘Anna’
/?lal?/ ‘Charlotte, Léon, Marcel’
/?mimi/ ‘mum’
/?pipi/ ‘bird’ [from Danish pip-pip ‘tweet-tweet’]
/?tat?a/ ‘tractor, plane, ship, space ship’
/??a?a/ ‘bird, flying insect’
/?babu/ ‘buggy, fire engine’ [partly from Danish ba-bu ‘nee-naw’]
/?kaki/ ‘cardie’
/?nani/ ‘Granny’
/?p?m?pa/ (also /?p?ba/) ‘Pumpa (her maternal grandfather)’
/?dede/ ‘Peter (her paternal grandfater), Brita (her paternal grandmother)’
/?nana/ ‘banana’
/?b?ibi/ ‘baby’ [from Danish ‘baby’ /?b??jb?i/, not Scottish /?bebe/]
/?d?de/ ‘Gordon’