Widespread characteristics of BT registers include the following: slow, exaggerated enunciation; higher overall pitch; exaggerated intonation contours; full vowels for reduced vowels and some vowels lengthened; frequent use of devices for attention and feedback of words, phrases, and sentences; use of kinterms and names (with third person constructions) instead of personal pronouns; use of first plural pronoun for second singular; avoidance of inflections and use of lexemes in multiple word class functions; preference for CV and CVC syllables and reduplications; simplification of consonant clusters; avoidance of substitution of highly marked sounds; interchange among l r w y; use of labialization and palatalization; use of diminutive and hypocoristic formations; and a special lexicon for body parts and functions, close kin, food, clothing, small animals, toys and games, and a few predicates (e.g., nice, hot, enough, ‘all gone’).
- Ferguson-DeBose (1977), a pag.102-103