One of the greatest joys of motherhood so far has been the process of watching Liana develop her verbal skills. Although she continues to follow complex instructions in Spanish, she is speaking almost exclusively English at this point. Well. Liana-esque English, that is.
She has created this unique syntax, which is so delightful that I find myself speaking Lianaese, rather than modeling appropriate American syntax. I know better. But I can’t help myself.
Liana uses the word “the” a lot. And she inserts it into odd places. Often, it precedes a possessive pronoun, or replaces the apostrophe “s” to demonstrate possession.
No touch the my cookie!
We go to the mommy office now?
I put my head the Liana pillow.
Sometimes it replaces the subject in a sentence.
The finish my juice, mommy.
or
The need more juice mommy.
or
The ready to go now mommy.
or
The no want to put on my shoes.
Another related variation is when “the” seems to precede a proclamation of sorts. The sorts of things that I say to her repeatedly, and she chants like proverbs.
The floor wet, mommy. The be careful. The no fall down.
The put my shoes in my room, mommy.
The no pull the Sage tail. (wagging the index finger for emphasis)
The NEVER draw the crayons on the TV. (also wagging the finger for emphasis… though we have had a few repeat incidents after the initial proclamation.)
Other times, the definite pronoun is used when we would normally use the indefinite pronouns.
I build you the big house mommy! (with her blocks J )
I promise to write down some more Lianese soon, before it disappears and normalizes and becomes standard English. And before I forget this brief moment in time.
She has created this unique syntax, which is so delightful that I find myself speaking Lianaese, rather than modeling appropriate American syntax. I know better. But I can’t help myself.
Liana uses the word “the” a lot. And she inserts it into odd places. Often, it precedes a possessive pronoun, or replaces the apostrophe “s” to demonstrate possession.
No touch the my cookie!
We go to the mommy office now?
I put my head the Liana pillow.
Sometimes it replaces the subject in a sentence.
The finish my juice, mommy.
or
The need more juice mommy.
or
The ready to go now mommy.
or
The no want to put on my shoes.
Another related variation is when “the” seems to precede a proclamation of sorts. The sorts of things that I say to her repeatedly, and she chants like proverbs.
The floor wet, mommy. The be careful. The no fall down.
The put my shoes in my room, mommy.
The no pull the Sage tail. (wagging the index finger for emphasis)
The NEVER draw the crayons on the TV. (also wagging the finger for emphasis… though we have had a few repeat incidents after the initial proclamation.)
Other times, the definite pronoun is used when we would normally use the indefinite pronouns.
I build you the big house mommy! (with her blocks J )
I promise to write down some more Lianese soon, before it disappears and normalizes and becomes standard English. And before I forget this brief moment in time.
