"Lazy" language?

[beanandspud]

DS is 3, his language skills are very good, and we've always been quite proud of how well he speaks for his age. Over the last couple of weeks though he seems to have become really 'lazy' and dropping letters when pronouncing things - "ya" instead of "you"; "pu' i'" instead of "put it"'; "li'le" instead of "little" etc.

I'm sure he is copying something that he hears at nursery but it is driving us mad! If he says something we will repeat it back the correct way but does anyone have any similar experience or ideas?

[Apologies for all of the apostrophes - it's quite hard to write the way that he speaks!]

When they are exposed to outside influences, the outside influences influence them. DS spoke RP like his parents until he went to nursery, not because we made him, that's just what we sound like. Now he alternates between RP and Teesside, sometimes in the same sentence! So, either your son will be home educated or he'll pick up the local accent. As the kid who was the only one with a Berkshire accent in a Cheshire school and whose cousin was the only kid with a Hampshire accent in a Durham school (thank you to the inspired teacher who made the extremely shy child read aloud, "because he spoke so nicely"!), I recommend that you go with the flow! He'll probably become "bilingual" and use different accents and speech patterns depending on where he is. This will prevent him from being bullied and is therefore a good idea!

I think it is because his language skills are so good that he´s picking up other people´s influences. Agree with what DrSeuss says. He´ll probably go through his life picking up accents from the people around him and there isn´t a lot that you can do about it. But he´ll be able to tell when to use which accent. Don´t worry about it!

I had the same problem with my DS when he went to nursery.

I soon came to realise the nursery was in a pretty rough area .

I had put him in one further away so I could have a morning slot and by the January I took him back out.

I now have him in a local playgroup and he is back to talking normally. It is horrible when a 3 year is speaking like that but they will copy.

I don't know if that is helpful to you as his nursery was pretty bad. Especially when the teacher introduced San'a (no need for a T) at the xmas party !

DD1 (nearly 4) does exactly that. She developed a stonking glottal stop around 8 months ago and did it even more when she worked out that it wound me up.

She'll also do a Northern accent and an American one - v. funny. Rastamouse is also becoming an influence.

I agree with the others that they do pick up accents at school/nursery/childminder but are his tonsils clear? Are his ears clear (ask GP to check for glue ear)? Has he had a bad cold recenlty? Are his big teeth coming out at the back? There might be a physical reason for it. Glue ear can influence speech even if they are a bit older and their speech has already developed.

Thank you for your replies - you've made me feel a lot better. I am going to try not to worry too much/make an issue out of it even though DH and I squirm when he says some of these things.

Blueberry - we have a doctor's appointment coming up so will ask about ears then.