kid speak.. not directed or attacking anyone, I just want to know about it.

Just means: I'm an English woman but I like to speak Wesh in SL sometimes.
(Not very often, mind, I'm not very fluent LOL)


What is QFT???

I must admit, the clash between Mari's speech patterns and her obvious wisdom have caused me some cognitive dissonance from time to time. It's become one of those idiosyncrasies of life in & around SL that make the place so charming. I've never found it hard to understand, and I'd much rather see it than any amount of "u r sooo hawt lolz".

Excessive 'ickklespeak' does occasionally grate, but it's a damn sight more creepy when the culprit looks grown-up. *That* is guaranteed to raise a shudder.

"Better a witty fool than a foolish wit." Thank you, Mr Shakespeare.

"Quoted For Truth", a kind of forumspeak "Hell Yeah!"

GIYF

These people don't know any of this, they're not from the streets.

You will likely not find it: the term was born right here in these forums.



Yups, they're often very much a personalized dialect. You always know it when ya see it. I know there's phrases and stuff I use dat's very much specific to my character.



Ya, I tend to "switch voices" when I'm dealing with clients, too.

Mari

Judging from the pictures you also like volcano sex.

People who are used to dealing with a certain type of speech may not even blink or consciously notice and just read over it, but as a non-English speaker I notice that anything that isn't "normal" English (even something silly like "dis" instead of "this" will cause a "reading stutter" because I'll have to think about what word was actually intended and the more words are replaced with "non-words" the harder it becomes to follow along.

I'll generally reread what I posted at least once for spelling or other problems and there's probably quite a few people who'll do that for anything longer than a few sentences. For me it's not for my benefit, but for other people's.

Childspeak (among other things) just seems to be the opposite of that. It's turning something that would otherwise be a perfectly normal text into something that's harder to read.

That phrase describes it perfectly - reading stutter. I wish I'd thought it up. It's the very reason why I dislike it in forum posts, and especially as it's intentional.

My French is considerably better than my Welsh (I've spotted a mistake in my Welsh post above!). But I was thrown at first by French SL-ers using words like 'lescalier', 'aujourdhui' etc. - they seem to have abandoned apostrophes just as much as English speakers have. I use shorthand in chat like dint, dont, U etc., but not normally in the Forum.

Language doesn't translate to text well. Yes, most kids, even little ones, will speak far more standardized English than SL kidspeak. However, if you listen to them, there will be very little question that they are children. You can tell. A little tone changes, a little hesitation, a little lisping, maybe even a "kid culture" accent, whatever. You can usually tell.

To me using a bit of kidspeak is a way to capture that vague child accent in text. An incorrect plural here or there. A dropped article. Whatever.

my guess is, because it's fun?

My RL wife does it when she wants me to spend money.

I enjoy reading kids speak inworld - I think its very sweet.! It's a definite skill, I sure as hell can't do it. I don't mind reading it in the forums either.

I am currently studying how children learn English as part of my degree.

I find SL 'child-speak' fascinating. Firstly, it is interesting how much importance the role-player puts on 'talking the talk'. Everyone knows that they (presumably) can speak like an adult, rather like everyone knows that a furry avatar is not really an animal or a muscle-rippling BDSM master is quite probably a seven-stone train-spotter, hehe.

What I do find very odd though, is why so many child-avatars use pseudo-child speak that is so at odds to the age they are declaring (on profiles etc) that they are playing. Are there really people who are deliberately playing eight year olds with serious speech impediments?

A child of five would normally be able to pronounce nearly all the sounds of the language pretty much as an adult would. The last three sounds to be grasped are:

The 'th' in words like 'thing' - usually perfected at around 4 1/2, pronounced as 'f' until then. As in 'I want somefing to eat!'

The 'th' in words like 'this' - usually grasped at around 5. Pronouned as 'd' until then. As in 'I don't like dat!' Some children may not prefect the 'ch' sound in 'church' until this age, though many can pronounce it as young as 2.

The 'zj' sound in words like 'leisure' or 'pleasure' - perfected at around 6. This is pronounced as 'sh' or maybe 'z' until then.

I have to agree that many examples of rp child-speak that I have seen do indeed more resemble gangster talk than children, hehe.

I am not an expert on this, I might add. But from the extensive reading I have been doing on this subject, I would say that the written speech of a child would be more clearly defined by the choice of words and grammar than implied pronounciation.

Perhaps this is why Marianne's posts can seem particularly incongrouous when she is discussing something using very adult terms and sentence constructions. She is obviously an intelligent and eloquent person. Far more than any five (and a half!) year old would be, hehe

so many confuse being a child in SL with RL... statements to the effect that no 5 yo speaks like kids the same age in SL do. Hello, this isnt RL if Im a 5 yo in SL and have trouble speaking so be it. This is SL. Lets face it, how many 5 yo's type? If I want to type here in the SL forum as a child, so be it. If I happen to annoy anyone mute me I dont really care Im in SL to have fun and been a child av for years and I do have fun, so neener neener

I see some potential for in-world classes: "How to Really Talk Like a Kid!"

It'll have the added benefit of getting them in the classroom and off the forums! (Kidding!!)

Hey now, it's Summer vacation!

I'm still gettin the hand of dat "th as d". I got past the "th as f" a long time ago.

Mari

OMG...I do that all the time...it is the equivalent of a trail off type pause for me...I hope no one attacks me for that! LOL

I am sorry, Toy. I certainly did not mean to offend anyone.

I was trying to explain why I find it fascinating. Obviously I realise that none of you are REAL children. That is the point. You are role-playing. I am interested in the way that adults choose to impersonate child speech.

Again, I am sorry if I came across as offensive. But of couse I am not 'confusing' SL with rl

I'd wager a guess that a lot of folks playing kids in SL don't actually have kids of their own, for whatever reason.
So it may be as simple as them simply not knowing at what stage kids grasp certainly concepts and they simply play their character the way they enjoy it the most.

aww I didnt mean my comments as negative.... I just simply was trying to point out that SL isnt RL

Why am i a child av for so long? well its just fun for me and in over 4 yrs in SL as a child av I have had 2 sexual advances towards me which I reported bein a child makes it possible for me not to deal with any sexuality in SL. Its there I know but I dont have to deal with it another reason, I enjoy my SL family, we have drama from time to time but we always come together. I 'spose its what many call love an thats what it is!!!

BTW Im not offended at all, Im jus a SL kid who gets a bit upset at times bout bein a lab rat

Actually, you'd be surprised how many are parents or even grandparents.

Mari

The serious response: Yes.

Another serious answer: I still can't say words correctly in real life, nor can I seem to recall words. Always on the tip of my tongue. That comes out more often than I like in SL, and I do not even play a child avatar. I should play one and then pretend that I'm doing child-speak.

(edited quoted passage so I do not end up with a huge block of text; interesting. That lead me to focus more on what I included. What the heck is a seven-stone train-spotter? I know the words, not the phrase. seven-stone? train-spotter? Very light weight, eh? Only weigh seven stones? Someone role-playing being a pilot in WWII (train-spotter)?)

7 stone = 7 x 14 lbs = 98 lbs.

A train spotter is someone who takes the number (and sometimes names) of trains (engines) that they see. They go to places where they will see many trains go by. It's sometimes a kids' hobby.