Re: Chinese Dialect Question

Staving Mark J. Reed:


> > > Are there any dialects in which /l/ and /j/ have merged into [j]?  That's
> > > another common children's error.  ("Turn out the yight, Mommy!")
> >
> > I've never heard that one.
>
>Well, I have firsthand experience of that one - I remember my parents
>painstakingly explaining how to say a proper [l].  I've since encountered
>enough accounts of it that I assume it's not all that rare, but then again,
>that could just be selective attention on my part.
>
> > I *have* heard chiwdren using [w] for /l/, but never [j].
>
>I have heard that as well, but it's a more thorough substitution;
>I think the [l]->[j] only happens initially.  In fact, I suppose
>it's possible for children who make that error to simultaneously say [w]
>for final (or "dark") [l].  I don't know, though; I have no memory of
>how I pronounced, e.g., "milk" back then.  I just remember being coached
>with phrases like "Yittle yemon yion".
This might well be related to the Spanish <ll> = [j].

Pete