Can you toddler understand non-lexical utterances?

[ellemenope]

My DD is three and still cannot differentiate between uh-huh and uh-uh.  Is this normal?  Or, should I add this to the list of quirks DD has?

It is driving me crazy.  All of the sudden she is three and I feel like she should be able to do this by now.  She even gets mad and yells, "does uh-huh mean yes or no?!  Say yes or no?!"

[lovepickles]

If you know what a non-lexical utterance is actually called why are you using them? (I'm joking, kind of.)

I'm very old and I still can't tell which one my husband uses. It annoys me. I agree with your 3 year old. Say yes or no.

:D

[colsxjack]

I agree with the three year old too :)

[pranava]

Do you have a distinctly different tone and facial expression when saying these?  Maybe it would be easier for her to tell the difference if she were looking at you when you said them.  They are quite similar expressions, so I would think context clues would be important.  She may be too busy with what she's doing or thinking to pay attention to your context clues - or try exaggerating the tone some.  I don't know if my DS understands this well or not.  It's not been an issue for us, so I haven't paid attention to it.

[redpajama]

My daughter used to do this, too--it only seemed to apply when I was substituting for "yes," though--she'd ask a question, and I might said, "uh-huh."  And she'd ask again, and I'd say, "mmmhmmm."  And she'd say, "What?!"  And I might nod and exaggerated nod and make one sound or the other, and she would finally say, "Just SAY YES."

The funny thing is, for a long time, when you asked *her* a question, she would say, "Huh."  That meant "yes."  We came to just "get it," but strangers would always repeat themselves, which would cause her to say, "Huh," again, and eventually we'd have to say, "Say 'yes.'" 

My youngest just turned 2 last week, and she clearly understands and uses such utterances (including my least favorite, "nuh-uh") and has for several months.  My older daughter was probably close to 4 before she understood them *and* used them "correctly." 

[carmel23]

I don't know if it is typical, but just say yes or no.  when my kids grumble and mumble at me like that I ask them to say yes or no... I don't like to have to decode people's mumblings...