Tuesday, February 07, 2006

It's all an elision

Elision refers to when someone drops or 'crunches' a sound or syllable in their speech, typically when they speak quickly. An example in âkayâsîmowin (english) might be the way people drops their g's at the end of words like runnin' and smokin'. The word 'environment' is sometimes pronounced with little to no emphasis on the middle 'n.'

So for Cree-S-L'ers like me, it often makes learning new words ... challenging. Especially when you try to match the non-elided written forms of a word with the way they're said in everyday speech. I'll give you an example, using the verb to run.

So, where I would say in formal speech, "nipimipahtân" (I run), most fluent speakers would drop their i's, like so: n'pim'pahtân.

The 'n' sound at the beginning can be quite subtle if you don't know what you are listening for. Actually, even if you know what are listening for.

But I am starting to catch these crunches more and more, and it's a tiny victory when you can say, "Hey, she elided that!"

Oh, the small things you come to enjoy learning a second language.

ekosi,
Rick

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