Saturday, January 10, 2009

My own Pygmalion

I can now pronounce many phonemes, especially the ones that I can see. Like: m, b, v, f and then t, d... Sandy says not to dwell too much on the vowels. Because mine are not clean at all. Like Eliza Doolittle, my "O"s resemble "Aow"s my "e"s are more like "ieie"s. Because of the half paralysis of the tongue, I have trouble with every long vowel especially with "a" and "oi", which require you position the tongue in a "Y" sound. Even today it is hard for me to produce the "Y" sound. Also glottal sounds pose a real problem like "K and G" Because I cannot see them, I cannot imitate them at all. I say It is a problem, because my son's name is Kaan. So far I cannot say his name.
One day Sandy drops in with an idea. It has occurred to her while driving. In order to say Kaan, we are going to work on saying the word "OK". This word I can say, although clumsily still I can say it, because the "K" is in the middle position. When I start with "O", and the meaning of OK is clear to me as a very familiar word, without thinking I can say OK. It is like a shortcut in my brain. Remember even 48 hours after the stroke I could write my own name. It is similar to that. The most used words must be wired, engraved in many different pathways of the brain, so that even one part of the brain is gone, they can be recollected via different shortcuts.

"Now" Sandy says, try to say "OK, Kaan!" after a few tries, I can say it. "OK, Kaan!" I repeat. Over and over again. This is a happy day for me. Although I cannot yet say "Kaan" I can say "OK, Kaan!" And that is enough for me. A very very happy day indeed!

* HINT: If you cannot say any particular sound, try them in various positions: Starting position, middle position, ending position... Especially try combining them with word you know since you were a Baby.

1 comment:

Misadventures of Widowhood said...

Congratulations! That is great that you accomplished an old challenge like that.

Jean