i was going to add something else to this but instead i got to thinking and i was like huh. what could you use.
in most languages the word for âmotherâ usually starts with an M, because phonetically [m] is one of the easiest sounds for a newborn to make when they start babbling, and mothers tend to be the one most around the child. so in my mind that crosses M off the list, because itâs automatically associated with a feminine figure
similarly, âfatherâ tends to start with D, T, P, or B. (phonetically these sounds are very close together; [p, b] and [d, t] are all only different because of being voiced or unvoiced.) these are also phonetically easy letters and ones kids pick up on earlier.
now the hard sounds for kids are the following: [Éč, dÍĄÊ, tÊ, Ξ, Ă°] or in normal speak: the English R, the âjâ or âdgeâ sound in âjudge,â the âthâ sound in âthighâ and the âthâ sound in âthe.â and we donât want kids unable to say their parentâs name for years, so those are also off the list.
additionally, itâs easiest for young kids to just repeat the same sound twice rather than figuring out the tongue gymnastics of putting different sounds together, which is why kids will say Ma-Ma or Da-Da and not Ma-Mo or Da-Po. and weâll want to stick with low back vowels like âahâ and avoid ones like the hard âiâ or âee.â
so what does that leave us? when we want a sound kids can learn easily and early but donât want to just put a funky spin on âmamaâ or âdadaâ?
my suggestions: G, K, W, L. i personally lean towards W and L. theyâre called liquids, since theyâre the consonants that kind of arenât consonants, and kids (and ESL learners) will tend to swap out the English R for a W or L until they can learn the R.
if i ever have a child, theyâll start calling me Wawa. then when they get older, theyâll call me Wala, or maybe even Wally.
and then, once theyâre finally phonetically developed, they can call me by my true title as their nonbinary guardian for their 18+ years:
vaporwave
yousharknotpass
jacobvanloon
