An Unvoiced Linguolabial Trill!

Ben is learning to do new things just about every day and he consistently impresses us with his continual advancement.  This past weekend he started making making some new sounds.  But instead of trying to imitate our voices, my son is apparently copying the noises that we (ok, well, "I") make.  After all, Ben IS a boy...  Ben made his first unvoiced linguolabial trill.  What is an "unvoiced linguolabial trill" you ask?   Well, to put it in baby-speak - Ben taught himself how to "Blow a Raspberry!"

Its very funny to watch him make these sounds.  He takes a deep breath, purses his lips and blows...

I had to do a quick internet search to see if this was something special that Ben was doing for his age.  So here's what I found out.

"Blowing a raspberry or making a Bronx cheer is to make a noise signifying derision (and/or silliness), made by sticking out the tongue between the lips and blowing to make a sound reminiscent of flatulence. In the terminology of phonetics, this sound can be described as an unvoiced linguolabial trill. It is never used in human language phonemically, but it is widely used across human cultures."

"Reminiscent of flatulence"  Hmmm...  I wonder where he's picking that up...    He carried on like this for some time.  Grandma & Grampa were over as well and we all had a big laugh.

So, do you think Ben likes being the center of attention?  Yeah, I think so too...  There's another way he's taking after both his Mommy and Daddy.

Look how proud of himself he is! 

I know I'm very proud of his new unvoiced linguolabial trill!