The Mind of the Child Part 20

Peitsche, _Paitsch_, _Paitse_.

Wa.s.ser, _Wa.s.s_, _Watja_.

Hand, _Hann_.

Heiss, _Ha.s.s_.

Auge, _Autschge_.

b.u.t.ter, _Buoto_.

Eimer, _Ama_.

Bitte, _Bete_, _Bite_.

Blatt, _Batn_.

Tuch, _Tuhs_.

Papier, _Patn_, _Pa_.

Fort, _Wott_.

Vater, _Fa-ata_.

Grete, _Deete_.

Karl, _Kara_.

Alle, _Alla_.

Alle, _Alla_.

Mund, _Munn_.

Finger, _Finge_.

Pferd, _Pfowed_, _Fowid_.

Gute Nacht, _Nag-ch Na_.

Guten Tag, _Tatach_.

Morgen, _Moigjen_.

Axel, _Akkes_, _Aje_, _Eja_.

The four words, _Paitsch_ or _Paitse_, _Bite_, _Watja_, and _Ha.s.s_, are uttered now and then by the child without being said to him, and their use has regard to the meaning contained in them. His whip and his pail he learned to name quickly and correctly. His own name, Axel, on the contrary, he designates by the favorite interjections _Aje_, _Eja_. On the whole, variety of articulation is on the increase as compared with the previous month, but the ability to put syllables together into words is still but little developed. Thus, e. g., the child reproduces quite correctly "je," and "ja," and "na." But if any one says to him "Jena" or "Jana," the answer runs regularly _nena_ or _nana_, and only exceptionally, as if by chance, _jena_. Further, he repeats correctly the syllables "bi" and "te" when they are given to him, and then also _bi-te_; afterward, giving up the correct imitation, he says _beti_, but can not reproduce _ti-be_ or _tebi_. "Bett, Karre, Kuk," are correctly repeated.

Finally, echolalia, not observed of late, appears again. If the child hears some one speak, he often repeats the last syllable of the sentence just finished, if the accent were on it--e. g., "What said the man?"

_man_; or "Who is there?" _there?_ "Nun?" (now) _nou_ (_n[=oo]_). Once the name "w.i.l.l.y" was called. Immediately the child likewise called _[)u]il[=e]_, with the accent on the last syllable, and repeated the call during an hour several dozens of times; nay, even several days later he entertained himself with the stereotyped repet.i.tion. Had not his first echo-play produced great merriment, doubtless this monotonous repet.i.tion would not have been kept up. In regard to the preference of one or another word the behavior of those about the child is not merely influential, but is alone decisive. I observed here, as I had done earlier, that urgent exhortations to repeat a new word have generally a much worse result than is obtained by leaving the child to himself. The correct, or at any rate the best, repet.i.tions were those made when the child was not spoken to. Even adults can imitate others in their manner of speaking, their dialect, even their voice, much better when not called upon to do it, but left entirely to their own inclination. The wish or command of others generates an embarra.s.sment which disturbs the course of the motor processes. I resolved, consequently, to abandon in the following month all attempts to induce the child to reproduce sounds, but to observe so much the more closely what he might say of his own accord.

In the last month of the second year of his life this leaving of him to himself proved fruitful in results to this extent--that voluntary sound-imitations gained considerably in frequency and accuracy.

Particularly, genuine echolalia manifested itself more at this period in the repeating of the last syllables of sentences heard, the meaning of which remained unintelligible to the child; and of single words, the sense of which became gradually clear to him by means of accompanying gestures. Thus, the word "Herein!" (Come in!) was repeated as an empty sound, and then _arein_, _harrein_, _haarein_, were shouted strenuously toward the door, when the child wanted to be let in; _ab_ (off) was uttered when a neck-ribbon was to be loosened. _Moigen_ signified "Guten Morgen!" _na_, "Gute Nacht!" To the question, "Was thun wir morgen?"

(What shall we do to-morrow?) comes the echo-answer _moigen_. In general, by far the greater part of the word-imitations are much distorted, to strangers often quite unintelligible. _Ima_ and _Imam_ mean "Emma," _dakkngaggngaggn_ again means "danke," and _betti_ still continues to signify "bitte." Only with the utmost pains, after the separate syllables have been frequently p.r.o.nounced, appear _dang[=ee]_ and _bitt[=ee]_. An apple (Apfel) is regularly named _apfel[=ee]l[=ee]_ (from Apfelgelee); a biscuit (Zwieback), _wita_, then _wijak_; b.u.t.ter, on the contrary, is often correctly named. Instead of "Jawohl," the child almost invariably says _wolja_; for "Licht" _list_ and _lists_; for "Wa.s.ser," _watja_ still as before; for "pfui" he repeats, when he has been awkward, _[=u]i_, and often adds a _pott_ or _putt_ in place of "caput." "Gut" is still p.r.o.nounced _[=u]t_ or _tut_, and "fort," _okk_ or _ott_. All the defects ill.u.s.trated by these examples are owing rather to the lack of flexibility in the apparatus of articulation--even stammering, _t.i.t-t-t-t_, in attempting to repeat "Tisch," appears--than to imperfect ability to apprehend sounds. For the deficiency of articulation shows itself plainly when a new word is properly used, but p.r.o.nounced sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly. Thus, the "tsch" hitherto not often achieved (twentieth month), and the simple "sch" in _witschi_ and _wesch_, both signifying "Zwetschen," are imperfect, although both sounds were long ago well understood as commands to be silent, and Zwetschen (plums) have been long known to the child. Further, the inability to reproduce anything is still expressed now and then by _raterateratera_; the failure to understand, rather by a peculiar dazed expression of countenance, with an inquiring look.

With regard to the independent application of all the words repeated, in part correctly, in part with distortions, a multiplicity of meanings is especially noteworthy in the separate expressions used by the child. The primitive word _atta_, used with uncommon frequency, has now among others the following significations: "I want to go; he is gone; she is not here; not yet here; no longer here; there is nothing in it; there is no one there; it is empty; it is nowhere; out there; go out." To the question "Where have you been?" the child answers, on coming home, _atta_, and when he has drunk all there was in the gla.s.s, he likewise says _atta_. The concept common to all the interpretations adduced, "gone," seems to be the most comprehensive of all that are at the child's disposal. If we choose to regard a word like this _atta_ as having the force of a whole sentence, we may note many such primitive sentences in this month. Thus, _mann_ means, on one occasion, "A man has come," then almost every masculine figure is named _mann_; _auff_, accompanied with the offering of a key, signifies the wish for the opening of a box, and is cried with animation after vain attempts to open a watch. The concepts "male being" and "open" are thus not only clear, but are already named with the right words. The distinguishing of men from women appears for months past very strikingly in this, that the former only are greeted by reaching out the hand. The manifold meaning of a single word used as a sentence is shown particularly in the cry of _papa_, with gestures and looks corresponding to the different meanings of it. This one word, when called out to his father, means (1) "Come play with me"; (2) "Please lift me up"; (3) "Please give me that"; (4) "Help me get up on the chair"; (5) "I can't," etc.

The greatest progress, however, is indicated by the _combination of two words_ into a sentence. The first sentence of this sort, spoken on the seven hundred and seventh day of his life at the sight of the house that was his home, was _haim_, _mimi_, i. e., "I would like to go home and drink milk." The second was _papa_, _mimi_, and others were similar.

Contrasted with these first efforts at the framing of sentences, the earlier meaningless monologues play only a subordinate part; they become, as if they were the remains of the period of infancy, gradually rudimentary: thus, _pipapapa_, _breit_, _bara_. A more important fact for the recognition of progress in speaking is that the words are often _confounded_, e. g., _watja_ and _buoto_ (for _b.u.t.ter_). In gestures also and in all sorts of performances there are bad cases of confusion almost every day; e. g., the child tries to put on his shoes, holding them with the heel-end to his toes, and takes hold of the can out of which he pours the milk into his cup by the lip instead of the handle.

He often affirms in place of denying. His joy is, however, regularly expressed by loud laughing and very high tones; his grief by an extraordinarily deep depression of the angles of the mouth and by weeping. Quickly as this expression of countenance may pa.s.s over into a cheerful one--often on a sudden, in consequence of some new impression--no confusion of _these_ two _mimetic_ movements takes place.

In the first month of the third year of life the progress is extraordinary, and it is only in regard to the articulatory mechanism that no important new actions are to be recorded. The child does not p.r.o.nounce a perfect "u," or only by chance. Generally the lips are not enough protruded, so that "u" becomes "ou"; "Uhr" and "Ohr" often sound almost the same. The "i" also is frequently mixed with other vowel-sounds, particularly with "e." Probably the corners of the mouth are not drawn back sufficiently. With these exceptions the vowels of the German language now offer hardly any difficulties. Of the consonants, the "sch" and "cht" are often imperfect or wanting. "Waschtisch" is regularly p.r.o.nounced _waztiz_, and "Gute Nacht" _gna_.

The sound-imitations of every kind are more manifold, eager, and skillful than ever before. Once the child even made a serious attempt to reproduce ten words spoken in close succession, but did not succeed. The attempt proves all the same that the word-imitation is now far beyond the lower echo-speech; yet he likes to repeat the last words and syllables of sentences heard by him even in the following months. Here belongs his saying _so_ when any object is brought to the place appointed for it. When the reproduction is defective, the child shows himself to be now much more amenable to correction. He has become more teachable. At the beginning of the month he used to say, when he wanted to sit, _ette_ then _etse_, afterward _itse_; but he does not yet in the present month say "setzen" or "sitzen." Hitherto he could repeat correctly at the utmost two words said for him. Now he repeats three, and once even four, imperfectly: _papa_, _beene_, _delle_, means "Papa, Birne, Teller," and is uttered glibly; but "Papa, Birne, Teller, bitte,"

or "Papa, b.u.t.ter, bitte," is not yet repeated correctly, but _pata_, _b.u.t.te_, _betti_, and the like; only very seldom, in spite of almost daily trial, _papa_, _beene_, _delle_, _bittee_.

Evidence of the progress of the memory, the understanding, and the articulation, is furnished in the answers the child gave when I asked him, as I touched various objects, "What is that?" He replied:

_Autse_, for Auge (eye).

_Nana_, " Nase (nose).

_Ba_, " Backe (back).

_Baat_, " Bart (beard).

_Oe, Oa_, " Ohr (ear).

_Opf_, " Kopf (head).

_Tenn_, " Kinn (chin).

_Tane_, " Zahne (teeth).

_Hai_, " Haar (hair).

_Ulter_, " Schulter (shoulder).

_Aam_, " Arm (arm).

_Ann_, " Hand (hand).

_Wier_, " Finger (finger).

_Daima_, " Daumen (thumb).

_Anu_, " Handschuh (glove).

_Ban_, " Bein (leg).

But not one word has the child himself invented. When a new expression appears it may be surely traced to what has been heard, as _uppe_, _oppee_, _appee_, _appei_, to "Suppe." The name alone by which he calls on his nurse, _wola_, seemed hard to explain. If any one says, "Call Mary," the child invariably calls _wola_. It is probable, as he used to call it _wolja_, that the appellation has its origin in the often-heard "ja wohl."

The correct use of single words, picked up, one might say, at random, increases in a surprising manner. Here belong _baden_, _reiputtse_, for "Reissuppe," _la-ock_ for "Schlafrock," _boter_ for "b.u.t.ter,"

_b.u.t.terbrod_, _Uhr_, _Buch_, _Billerbooch_ for "Bilderbuch." In what fashion such words now incorporated into the child's vocabulary are employed is shown by the following examples: _Tul_ (for "Stuhl") means--(1) "I should like to be lifted up on the chair; (2) My chair is gone; (3) I want this chair brought to the table; (4) This chair doesn't stand right." If the chair or other familiar object is broken, then it is still styled _putt_ (for "caput," gone to smash); and if the child has himself broken anything he scolds his own hand, and says _oi_ or _oui_, in place of "pfui" (fie)! He wants to write to his grandmother, and asks for _Papier_, a _daitipf_ (for "Bleistift," pencil), and says _raiwe_ (for "schreiben," write).

That misunderstandings occur in such beginnings of speech seems a matter of course. All that I observed, however, were from the child's standpoint rational. Some one says, "Schlag das Buch auf" (Open the book, but meaning literally "Strike upon the book"), and the child strikes upon the book with his hands without opening it. He does the same when one says, "Schlag auf das Buch" (Strike upon the book). Or we say, "Will you come? one, two!" and the child, without being able to count, answers, "Three, four." He has merely had the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, said over to him frequently. But, on the whole, his _understanding_ of words heard, particularly of commands, has considerably advanced; and how far the reasoning faculty has developed is now easily seen in his independent designations for concepts. For example, since his delight at gifts of all sorts on his birthday, he says _burtsa_ (for Geburtstag, birthday) when he is delighted by anything whatever. Another instance of childish induction was the following: The child's hand being slightly hurt, he was told to blow on his hand and it would be better. He did blow on his hand. In the afternoon he hit his head against something, and he began at once to blow of his own accord, supposing that the blowing would have a soothing effect, even when it did not reach the injured part.

In the forming of sentences considerable progress is to be recorded. Yet only once has the child joined more than four words in a sentence, and rarely three. His sentences consisting of two words, which express a fact of the present or of the immediate past, are often, perhaps generally, quite unintelligible to strangers. Thus, _danna kuha_ signifies "Aunt has given me cake"; _Kaffee nan_, "There is no coffee here"; and _mama etsee_ or _etse_ is intelligible only by means of the accompanying gesture as the expression of the wish, "Mamma, sit by me."

_h.e.l.le pumme_ signifies the wish to help (_helfen_) in pumping, and is uttered at the sight of persons pumping water.

The following sentence consisting of five words is particularly characteristic of this period, because it exhibits the first attempt to relate a personal experience. The child dropped his milk-cup and related _mimi atta teppa papa o_, which meant "Milch fort [auf den] Teppich, Papa [sagte] pfui." (Milk gone [on] carpet, Papa [said] "Fie!") The words adopted by the child have often a very different meaning from that which they have in the language of adults, being not entirely misunderstood but peculiarly interpreted by the imitator. Thus, p.r.o.nouns, which are not for a long time yet understood in their true sense, signify objects themselves or their qualities. _Dein bett_ means "the large bed."

In the twenty-sixth month a large picture-book, with good colored pictures, was shown to the child by me every day. Then he himself would point out the separate objects represented, and those unknown to him were named to him, and then the words were repeated by him. Thus were obtained the following results:

Said to him. His imitation.

Blasebalg (bellows), _ba-a-bats_, _blasabalitz_.

Saugflasche (nursing-bottle), _augflaze_.

Kanone (cannon), _nanone_.

Koffer (trunk), _towwer_, _toffer_, _pfoffa_, _poffa_, _toff-wa_.

Fuchs (fox), _fuhts_.

Kaffeekanne (coffee-urn), _taffeetanne_, _pfafee-tanne_.

Frosch (frog), _frotz_.

Klingel (bell), _linli_ (learned as _ingeling_ and _linlin_).

Besen (broom), _b[=e]sann_, _beedsen_, _beedsenn_.

Stiefel (boot), _tiefel_, _stibbell_, _tihbell_, _tibl_.

Nest (nest), _netz_.

Storch (stork), _toich_.

Giesskanne (watering-pot), _tietstanne_, _ihtstanne_, _ziesstanne_.

Fisch (fish), _fiz_.

Zuckerhut (sugar-loaf), _ukkahut_.

Vogel (bird), _wodal_.

Kuchen (cake), _tuche_, _tuch[=e]n_ (hitherto _kuha_).

Licht (light), _lihts_, _lits_.

Schlitten (sled), _lita_, _litta_.

Tisch (table), _tiss_.

Nuss (nut), _nuhuss_, _nuss_.