Kids sometimes make up funny words. A few of the most memorable words created by our daughters over the years include:
– Dubberfly (butterfly)
– Purpur (purple)
– Burcept (except)
– Jamamas (pajamas)
We didn’t bother correcting these words because, well, they’re cute. Besides, we figured they’d straighten them out eventually. And for the most part I always understood how they thought these words were valid. Children are phonetic creatures who pick up language patterns from their environment. And yes, they eventually straightened out all of these words. Sadly.
But lately, I’ve noticed both our daughters using the word ‘brang’ for the past tense of ‘bring.’
“It’s the ball I brang to school last week.” Or “She brang me a book from the library.”
But ‘brang’ is not so cute to me. It sounds ignorant. So when I hear them use it, I’m quick to interject the correct term. Sure, they’ll straighten it out eventually – they’re smart kids. But this ‘brang’ has been kicking my ass lately.
Then last night in the shower I thought about my Anthropological Linguistics professor who spent an entire semester convincing us that there is no such thing as a primitive language. That every syllable of every word in every language has a distinct purpose and meaning to those who use it. And then it dawned on me that what my kids are doing with the past tense of ‘bring’ was perfectly logical to them.
Ring = Rang
Sing = Sang
Bring = Brang
There is no primitive language. Not even kid-speak.
Yes, it’s another picture of our daughter, Cozette.
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Jason F Bennett
Mar 30, 2011
Having grown up in North Carolina, I can also tell you that “brang” is an infection your kids are _bring_ing home from the playground. I specifically remember that word in elementary school, so I wonder if it’s not a confluence of the “apply the English rule, proving the exception” with southern drawl.
Jason F Bennett
Mar 30, 2011
Having grown up in North Carolina, I can also tell you that “brang” is an infection your kids are _bring_ing home from the playground. I specifically remember that word in elementary school, so I wonder if it’s not a confluence of the “apply the English rule, proving the exception” with southern drawl.
Jim Mitchem
Mar 31, 2011
And yet, our children don’t even have southern drawls. Really. We all have neutral accents. I thought people might think it was a southern thing, but i grew up in north florida and we never said it. Weird.