Sous-Chef

1. Fei Yen toddles over with an armful of blanket, dumps it on the floor, and returns to the linen closet.
2. "May we help?" offers Jin.
3. "Puff, peaz," she orders.
4. Hu goes off in search of another blanket.
5. "Pillow, too, peaz."
6. "What kind of pillow?" asks Jin.
7. "Seepy pillow, peaz."
8. Jin heads off to her room.
9. "Anything else?" asks Cheung.
10. "Bassies, peaz."
11. "Bath towels it is." Cheung pushes himself to his feet, joins her in rifling through the bedclothes.
12. "Here you are," announces Jin as he and Hu return. "Where would you like them?"
13. "Sit, peaz."
14. Jin and Hu put their loot on the chesterfield.
15. "Danku." Fei Yen scans the shelves. "Da un, peaz."
16. Cheung pulls down a stack of towels. "These ones?"
17. "Yes. Danku." She tugs his pant leg in the direction of the sitting room.
18. "Are we making a fort?" asks Jin.
19. "No fort," replies Fei Yen. "Buhzonyah." She spreads the first blanket flat on the carpet.
20. Neither Cheung nor Jin nor Hu can parse that.
21. "What kind?" asks Jin.
22. Fei Yen pauses.
23. "Classic, modern..." offers Hu.
24. "Kiddy," Fei Yen states. "Pillow, peaz."
25. "One pillow," says Cheung.
26. "Danku." Fei Yen measures the blanket. "Two, peaz."
27. "One more pillow or two more pillows?" asks Jin.
28. "One more pillow, peaz."
29. Hu hands her another pillow.
30. Fei Yen lies them both side by side. "Kiddy now." She toddles deeper into the suite.
31. Cheung pulls out his phone, opens a new message, taps 'send audio file'.
32. Fei Yen returns with Blake (somewhat-overweight grey cat), drops him on a pillow.
33. Jin begins, "So you're making kitty...?"
34. "Buhzonyah."
35. Blake huffs, makes himself comfortable.
36. **WTCheung:** nang, what is feiby saying?
37. Fei Yen toddles away.
38. **And\_Lo!:** survey says 'lasagna'.
39. "A kitty lasagna," muses Hu.
40. Jin hops a little. "We should make it a triplet-and-cat lasagna."
41. "We totally should," grins Hu.
42. Cheung scoops up Blake and the pillow.
43. Hu and Jin scramble for the other two.
44. "Lie down, quick!"
45. "What about you?"
46. "Someone's gotta put the pillows back."
47. Meowing from the hall.
48. Jin and Hu throw themselves to the blanket, lie shoulder to shoulder.
49. Cheung replaces Blake and that pillow--
50. "Mmrmph!"
51. "It's a cat, he doesn't weigh that much." Grabs the rest of the layer.
52. "The pillow's a bit smothering."
53. "You'll be fine."
54. ""Ooof!""
55. Cheung jogs down the hall.
56. Fei Yen's picking herself off the floor, three cats frowning in the laundry basket.
57. "May I help?" offers Cheung.
58. "Yes, peaz." Fei Yen dusts off her overalls. "Kiddies heavy."
59. Cheung picks it up. "It /is heavy. Did you push this all the way from your mum's room?"
60. "Puss it, yes."
61. "That's very impressive. Shall we add these to the lasagna?"
62. "Yes, peaz."
63. "Back to it, then."
64. They manage to get there without either of them tripping over each other and the pile of pillows (and cat) is giggling.
65. Fei Yen frowns. "Buhzonyah tickle?"
66. "You've got yourself a souschef," explains Cheung. "And I thought you might want to make triplet-cat lasagna."
67. "Tipet-kiddy buhzonyah." Fei Yen nods. "Yes." Makes grabby hands for the basket.
68. "Awesome." Cheung puts down his load.
69. "Kiddy come." Fei Yen tries to get a cat.
70. "Allow me." Cheung hands over Artemis (of average size, silver and white).
71. "Maaaau," she whines.
72. "Kiddy," coos Fei Yen, plopping Artemis onto the middle pillow.
73. Blake sneers.
74. "I have Orion and Leelu."
75. "Dere and dere, peaz."
76. Down go Orion and Leelu.
77. "Mmmph," grunts Hu.
78. "Ignore the food," advises Cheung.
79. "I'noring food," agrees Fei Yen. "Bassies, peaz."
80. Cheung hands over a few.
81. Fei Yen spreads them over the cats.
82. "Maaaaaaaaaaaau," protests Blake.
83. "I'noring food," says Fei Yen. "Pantses, peaz."
84. "Spread it over the towels?"
85. Fei Yen smiles proudly. "Yes. Good tipet."
86. "Thank you." Cheung sprinkles socks and shirts and PJs over the towels. "Good?"
87. "Good. Puff, peaz."
88. "Just on top?"
89. "Yes."
90. Cheung shakes out the blanket, floats it down.
91. Orion crawls free.
92. "No! Kiddy!" Fei Yen scurries around the lasagna.
93. Leelu takes the opportunity to worm out.
94. "Kiddy! No! Buhzonyah!"
95. "It's okay!" assures Cheung. "Jin and Hu are still there!"
96. Jin grumps.
97. "Tipet buhzonyah." Fei Yen ponders. "Tipet buhzonyah good."
98. "Triplet lasagna is very good. Very tasty," agrees Cheung. "Picture?"
99. Fei Yen lights up. "Teezes, yes, peaz!"
100. "Say 'cheese'!"
101. "Teez!"

## Footnotes

[i] Puff, peaz: Fei Yen’s word for a heavier blanket like a comforter or duvet (personal data); /pl/ consonant cluster;

[ii] Pillow, too, peaz: the children of two interviewed caregivers could both produce ‘pillow’ correctly.

[iii] Which consonant would she delete, the /s/ or the /l/? (McLoed et al., 2001)

[iv] Bassies: Bath towels

[v] Hoff, 2010 how to teach kids to talk

[vi] What Fei Yen calls chesterfields.

[vii] Should this have a /t/ or a glottal stop?

[viii] Danku: getting a better handle on “thank you”; no gesture anymore

[ix] Acquisition of “no” is when? First instance of lasagna

[x] Fei Yen thinking of how adjectives work (is there a source for this?)

[xi] Illustrating Fei Yen’s still somewhat unrefined articulation.

[xii] “Thank you” ([16, 18, 22])

[xiii] Quantifiers, sentence structure

[xiv] “Yes”: Fei Yen can produce word-final /s/ with consistency. “Kiddy now” Check syntax (“Now kiddy”?)

[xv] Gillen or Stilwell-Peccei: “only meaningful to their parents”

[xvi] “Kiddies heavy” Acquisition of /-s/, check syntax (“is/are”? “Heavy kiddies”?)

[xvii] Puss it:

[xviii] -ing morpheme (Goodluck or Hoff?), how Fei Yen captures ‘laughing’.

[xix] “Tipet-cat bozonyah”: /tr/ and /pl/ are still tricky

[xx] Attempting /theta/ and failing

[xxi] Ignoring food: check syntax, phonology

[xxii] Pantses: over correcting grammar, her overextension/segmentation error for “clothers”

[xxiii] Good tipet: consonant clusters, check syntax (if she can say ‘is’, have her say “tipet is good” (or maybe not?))

[xxiv] Tipet bozonyah good: check syntax

[xxv] How to ‘teach’ kids words

[xxvi] Teezes: segmentation error, failure to produce [t͡ʃ]

## Analysis

Fei Yen will not be able to produce the /pl/ consonant cluster until she's about 4 years old (3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 24, 26, 28, 58, 62, 75, 79, 83, 87, 99; McLeod et al, 2001).

In line 99, Fei Yen displays a speech segmentation error as seen in Stilwell-Peccei (2006:14); the act of taking a picture, having a picture taken, and pictures, are all lumped under "Say 'cheese'!". However, the [t͡ʃ] in /t͡ʃiːz/ (99, 101) is a bit beyond her (/t͡ʃ/ is a sound that develops mid-late in the acquisition process (Hoff, 2010)) so she simplifies it as /t/ (Lust, 2006).

/θæŋk ju/

ðɛː(ɹ)

pænts

bæθ