Wednesday 15 April 2009

Un-Australian

Lucy has learnt the words to the song 'Walzing Matilda'. The following conversation was had recently:

Lucy, singing: And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that...

Andrew suggests: billabong

Lucy, indignantly: No Dad! I don't say that Australian thing


On a related note, Lucy has started saying "cant" for the word "can't" (instead of "carnt"). When she does so I correct her which leads to an interesting parenting dilemma. When other parents encourage their children that yes they can do something, I am reinforcing that she can't do something by correcting her pronounciation. So is it more important to change the negative behaviour or the negative pronounciation?
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2 comments:

Julie said...

it will be very interesting to see if Lucy's pronunciation/accent changes when she is back in australia. my guess is that she will be "bilingual" and able to swap between australian and american accents at will.

refusing to say billabong on the other hand... very cute/funny that she is happy to sing all the words until she gets to that one :)

15 April 2009 at 18:43
Carrie said...

When our daughter was two she started saying "I amn't!" as in "I am not!" We actually were impressed at her ability to grasp a complicated language concept like combining words and so we just let her say it. When she was about four, I replied to her, about something, "I amn't" and she promptly corrected me and gave me the kind of look that implied "I can't believe you let me say that for so long!" Either way, it is amazing to watch them grasp language and I would imagine presents some challenges in a "duel accented" household(which could be interpreted at least two ways!). Or maybe "bi-accented"?

18 April 2009 at 09:41

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