Regarding 2yr olds being unable to differentiate between similar consonants if they haven't been regularly exposed to them when younger. If I remember correctly this came from a piece of Canadian research there is a native language which uses consonants (sounds) not used in English, adults cannot differentiate between the sounds but children up to the age of 18 months can. The same tv series that showed the above experiment also showed the theory that children will automatically impose order on language - i.e. will make rules - grammar is basically only a description of those rules from my understanding. The sign languages used by the deaf, as I understand it, have their own grammar. The imposition of order changes a 'language' from a pidgin to a creole. With accents it can be quite interesting - one student friend of mine had a mild accent - Liverpudlean - but when he spoke French the accent was as broad as can be and very funny. Regarding the various spelling of surnames my mother has researched the family history. Tracing her maiden name, Limon, back eventually couldn't find any ancestors until she found them under Lammiman. The explanation she was given at a class was that at that time the majority of people were illiterate so the local priest spelt the phonetically from the parishioner's pronounciation. Regarding 'the exception proves the rule' in science when testing a hypothesis, experiments are designed with the intention of disproving the hypothesis in that way you are testing the theory. Of course the other phrase that uses 'prove' in meaning of test is 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'.
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