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The Grunt

The adolescent grunt is an amazing utterance.

Interestingly, it appears to be culturally and linguistically universal. Moreover, it is particularly prevalent in young adolescent men learning English. Often, it is accompanied by lack of facial gesture or expression, which makes it even more difficult for the receiver to understand what is trying to said.

For such a significant and universal utterance which occurs at a set age and does not seem to be gender specific, you may wonder why this linguistic landmark does not feature in the stages of language development. Let’s see, we start with crying at birth, cooing at 6 weeks, babbling at six months, intonation patterns at eight months, one-word utterances at one year, two-word utterances at 18 months, word inflections at 24 months, question and negatives at 27 months, rare and complex constructions at five years, mature speech at 10 years, and . . .
the single sounded grunt at 13 years.

Not only does the grunt cause difficulties for the listener, but it can have a negative effect on the communication skills of the speaker.

Learn English students taking English exams, including GCSE English and IGCSE English, are required to demonstrate their ability to speak English clearly and to communicate with confidence. Further, learn English students are asked to perform in front of a group and to discuss a topic.

Many learn English students suffering from the grunt syndrome are referred to us from their anguished parents who can no longer communicate with their sons or daughters. These special learn English students follow our LAMDA training programme in speaking, communication and performance skills. They receive intensive elocution lessons and are taught how to express themselves using clear English pronunciation. Also, they are taught the importance of eye contact and making a positive presence. Many of our learn English students following our LAMDA programme continue into acting or TV presentation training.

So, if you are living with the grunt, then do not despair.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

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