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The "w" sound, incidentally, is a complex one, and, like many such sounds, is best learned only during the brief years of childhood when a child's linguistic flexibility is at its maximum—those years in which it might be trained to speak any of the languages of man with native fluency—a capacity which is, for most individuals at least, lost long prior to attaining their majority. - (Nomads of Gor, Chapter 13, Sentence #203)

Kamchak had never been able to pronounce her name, which he regarded as of barbarian length and complexity. "E-liz-a-beth-card-vella" he would try to say, adding the "a" sound because it is a common ending of feminine names on Gor. He could never, like most native speakers of Gorean, properly handle the "w" sound, for it is extremely rare in Gorean, existing only in certain unusual words of obviously barbarian origin. The "w" sound, incidentally, is a complex one, and, like many such sounds, is best learned only during the brief years of childhood when a child's linguistic flexibility is at its maximum—those years in which it might be trained to speak any of the languages of man with native fluency—a capacity which is, for most individuals at least, lost long prior to attaining their majority. On the other hand, Kamchak could say the sound I have represented as "vella" quite easily and would upon occasion use this as Elizabeth's name. Most often, however, he and I simply referred to her as the Little Barbarian. I had, incidentally, after the first few days, refused to speak English to her, thinking it would be more desirable for her to learn to speak, think and hear in Gorean as rapidly as possible. - (Nomads of Gor)