The Mind of the Child Part 21

Kaffeetopf (coffee-pot), _poffee-topf_.

Hund (dog), _und_.

Brief (letter), _dief_.

Elephant, _elafant_.

Fledermaus (bat), _lebamaunz_, _fleedermauz_.

Kamm (comb), _damm_, _lamm_, _namm_.

Schwalbe (swallow), _baubee_.

Staar (starling), _tahr_.

Of his own accord the child pointed out with certainty in the picture-book--

_ham_, _ha-em_, _hemm_ for Helm (helmet).

_horz_ " Hirsch (stag).

_tawell_ " Tafel (table).

_lompee_, _lamp['=e]_ " Lampe (lamp).

_lotz_ " Schloss (castle).

_benne_ " Birne (pear).

_torb_ " Korb (basket).

_onne-erm_ " Sonnenschirm (parasol).

_flatse_ " Flasche (bottle).

_wetsa_ " Zwetschen (plums).

_clawelier_ " Clavier (piano).

_littl_, _litzl_, _lutzl_ " Schlussel (key).

_lowee_ " Lowe (lion).

_ofa_ " Ofen (stove).

_[=u][)a]_ " Uhr (watch).

_tint_, _kint_ " Kind (child).

_nanincha_ " Kaninchen (rabbit).

_manne_ " Pfanne (pan).

_tomml_, _tromml_ " Trommel (drum).

_tuhl_ " Stuhl (chair).

With these words, the meaning of which the child knows well, though he does not yet p.r.o.nounce them perfectly, are to be ranked many more which have not been taught him, but which he has himself appropriated Thus, _tola_ for Kohlen (coals), _dals_ for Salz (salt). Other words spontaneously appropriated are, however, already p.r.o.nounced correctly and correctly used, as _Papier_ (paper), _Holz_ (wood), _Hut_ (hat), _Wagen_ (carriage), _Teppich_ (carpet), _Deckel_ (cover), _Milch_, _Teller_ (often _tell[)e]_), _Frau_, _Mann_, _Mause_. These cases form the minority, and are striking in the midst of the manifold mutilations which now const.i.tute the child's speech. Of these mutilations some are, even to his nearest relatives who are in company with the child every day, unintelligible or only with great pains to be unriddled. Thus, the child calls himself _Attall_ instead of Axel; says also _rraus Atsl_ for "heraus Axel," i. e., "Axel wants to go out." He still says _bita_ for "bitte," and often _mima_ or _mami_ for Marie; _apf_ for "Apfel." The numerous mutilations of the words the child undertakes to speak are not all to be traced to defect of articulation. The "sch" is already perfectly developed in _Handschuh_; and yet in other words, as appears from the above examples, it is either simply left out or has its place supplied by _z_ and _ss_. Further, it sounds almost like wantonness when frequently the surd consonant is put in place of the sonant one or _vice versa_; when, e. g., _puch_ (for Buch) _pucherr_ is said on the one hand, and _wort_ instead of "fort" on the other. Here belongs likewise the peculiar staccato manner of uttering the syllables, e. g., _pil-ter-puch_ (Bilder-buch--picture-book). At other times is heard a hasty _billerbuch_ or _pillerpuch_.

The babbling monologues have become infrequent and more of a play with words and the syllables of them, e. g., in the frequently repeated _papa-[)u]-a-[)u]a_.

On the other hand, independent thoughts expressed by words are more and more multiplied. Here is an example: The child had been extraordinarily pleased by the Christmas-tree. The candles on it had been lighted for three evenings. On the third evening, when only one of its many lights was burning, the child could not leave it, but kept taking a position before it and saying with earnest tone, _gunna-itz-boum_, i. e., "Gute nacht, Christbaum!" The most of his sentences still consist of two words, one of which is often a verb in the infinitive. Thus, _h.e.l.le mama_, _h.e.l.le mami_, i. e., "helfen (help) Mama, Marie!" and _bibak tommen_, i. e., "der Zwieback soll kommen" (let the biscuit come); or _tsee machen_ (make _c_)--on the piano the keys _c_, _d_, _e_, had often been touched separately by the little fingers accidentally, and the applause when in response to the question, "Where is _c_?" the right key was touched, excited the wish for repet.i.tion; _roth_, _drun machen_ (make red or green)--the child was instructed by me in the naming of colors; and _dekkn pilen_, i. e., "Verstecken spielen" (play hide and seek). In quite short narratives, too, the verbs appear in the infinitive only. Such accounts of every-day occurrences--important to the child, however, through their novelty--are in general falling into the background as compared with the expression of his wishes in words as in the last-mentioned cases. Both kinds of initiatory attempts at speaking testify more and more plainly to awakening intellect, for, in order to use a noun together with a verb in such a way as to correspond to a wish or to a fact experienced, there must be added to the imitation of words heard and to the memory of them something which adapts the sense of them to the outward experiences at the time and the peculiar circ.u.mstances, and a.s.sociates them with one another. This something is the intellect. In proportion as it grows, the capacity for being taught tricks decreases and the child is already ashamed to answer by means of his former gestures the old questions, "Where is the little rogue?" "How tall?" etc.

But how far from the intellect of the older child is that of the child now two years and two months old appears from this fact, that the latter has not the remotest notion of number. He repeats mechanically, many times over, the words said for him, _one_, _two_, _three_, _four_, _five_; but when objects of the same sort are put before him in groups, he confounds all the numbers with one another in spite of countless attempts to bring the number 2 into firm connection with the sound two, etc. Nor does he as yet understand the meaning of the frequently repeated "danke" (thanks), for, when the child has poured out milk for himself, he puts down the pitcher and says _dankee_.

One more remark is to be made about the names of animals. These names are multiplying in this period, which is an important one in regard to the genesis of mind. Ask, "What is the animal called?" and the answer runs, _mumu_, _kikeriki_, _bauwau_, _piep-piep_, and others. No trace of onomatopoetic attempts can be discovered here. The child has received the names p.r.o.nounced to him by his nurse and has retained them; just so _hotto_ for "Pferd" (horse), like _lingeling_ for "Klingel" (bell). None the less every healthy child has a strong inclination to onomatopeia.

The cases already reported prove the fact satisfactorily. The echolalia that still appears now and then really belongs to this. Inasmuch as in general in every onomatopoetic attempt we have to do with a sound-imitation or the reproducing of the oscillations of the tympanum as nearly as possible by means of the vocal cords, all attempts of the speechless child to speak are ultimately of onomatopoetic character in the earliest period; but from the present time on sound-imitation retires before the reasoning activity, which is now shooting forth vigorously in the childish brain.

In the twenty-seventh month the activity of thought manifests itself already in various ways. The independent ideas, indeed, move in a narrowly limited sphere, but their increasing number testifies to the development of the intellect. Some examples may be given:

The child sees a tall tree felled, and he says as it lies upon the ground, _pick up_! Seeing a hole in a dressing-gown, he says, _na[)e]n_ (sew)! In his play he sometimes says to himself, _dib acht_ (take care)! To the question, "Did it taste good?" the child answers while still eating, _mekk noch_ (schmeckt noch), "It _does_ taste good," thus distinguishing the past in the question from the present. The development of observation and _comparison_ is indicated by the circ.u.mstance that salt is also called _sand_. On the other hand, the feeling of grat.i.tude is as yet quite undeveloped. The child, as in the previous month, says _dankee_ to himself when, e. g., he has opened his wardrobe-door alone. The word is thus as yet unintelligible to him, or it is used in the sense of "so" or "succeeded." His frequent expressions of pity are striking.

When dolls are cut out of paper, the child weeps violently in the most pitiful manner, for fear that in the cutting a head (_Topf_) may be taken off. This behavior calls to mind the cries of _arme wiebak_ (armer Zwieback--poor biscuit)! when a biscuit is divided, and _arme holz_ (poor wood)! when a stick of wood is thrown into the stove. n.o.body has taught the child anything of that sort.

The independent observations which he expresses correctly but very briefly in a form akin to the style of the telegraphic dispatch are now numerous, e. g.:

_Tain milch_: There is no milk here.

_Lammee aus_, _lampee aus_: The flame, the lamp, is gone out.

_Da.s.s la-okk_: That is the dressing-gown (Schlafrock).

_Diss nicht la-okk_: This is not the dressing-gown.

His wishes the child expresses by means of _verbs_ in the infinitive or of substantives alone. Thus, _papa auf-tehen_ (papa, get up), _fru-tukken_ (breakfast), _aus-taigen_ (get out), _nicht blasen_ (not blow--in building card-houses), _pieldose aufziehn_ (wind up the music-box), and _biback_ (I should like a biscuit). Into these sentences of one, two, and three words there come, however, single adverbs not before used and indefinite p.r.o.nouns, like _[=e][=e]n_ and _[)e]_ in _tann [=e][=e]n nicht_ or _tann[)e] nicht_, for "kann _er_ nicht" or "kann _es_ nicht." _b.u.t.ter drauf_ (b.u.t.ter on it), _Mama auch tommen_ (mamma come, too), _noch mehr_ (more), _blos Wa.s.ser_ (only water), _hier_ (here), are the child's own imperatives. _Schon wieder_ (again) he does indeed say of his own accord on fitting occasions; but here he is probably repeating mechanically what he has heard. In all, the forming of a word that had not been heard as such, or that had not come from what had been heard through mutilation, has been surely proved in only a single instance. The child, viz., expressed the wish (on his seven hundred and ninety-sixth day) to have an apple pared or cut up, by means of the word _messen_. He knows a knife (Messer) and names it rightly, and while he works at the apple with a fork or a spoon or anything he can get hold of, or merely points at it with his hand, he says repeatedly _messen_! Only after instruction did he say _Messer neiden_ (mit dem Messer schneiden--cut with the knife). Here for the first time a wholly new word is formed. The concept and the word "knife"

("Messer") and the concept, "work with the knife," were present, but the word "schneiden" (cut) for the last was wanting, as also was "schalen"

(pare). Hence, both in one were named _messen_ (for "messern," it may be). The two expressions that used to be heard many times daily, the name _wola_ for the nurse Mima (Mary) and _atta_, have now almost disappeared. _Atta wesen_ for "draussen gewesen" (been out) is still used, it is true, but only seldom. In place of it come now _weg_, _fort_, _aus_, and _allall_, in the sense of "empty," "finished." The too comprehensive, too indefinite concept _atta_ has broken up into more limited and more definite ones. It has become, as it were, differentiated, as in the embryo the separate tissues are differentiated out of the previously apparently h.o.m.ogeneous tissue.

In the period of rapid development now attained, the child daily surprises us afresh by his independent applications of words just heard, although many are not correctly applied, as _tochen haiss_ (boiling hot), said not only of the milk, but also of the fire.

When words clearly comprehended are used in a different sense from that in which adults use them--_incorrectly_ used, the latter would say--there is, however, no _illogical_ employment of them on the part of the child. For it is always the fact, as in the last example, that the concept a.s.sociated with the word is taken in a more extended sense. The very young child infers a law from a few, even from two observations, which present some agreement only in one respect, and that perhaps a quite subordinate respect. He makes inductions without deliberation. He has heard milk called "boiling hot," he feels its warmth, and then feels the warmth of the stove, consequently the stove also is "boiling hot"; and so in other cases. This logical activity, the _inductive_ process, now prevails. The once favorite monologues, pure, meaningless exercises of articulation, of voice and of hearing, are, on the contrary, falling off. The frequent repet.i.tion of the same syllable, also of the same sentence (_lampee aus_), still survives particularly in animated expressions of wish, _erst essen_ (first eat), _viel milch_ (much milk), _mag-e-nicht_ (don't like it). Desire for food and for playthings makes the child loquacious, much more than dislike does, the latter being more easily manifested by means of going away, turning around, turning away.

The child can even beg on behalf of his carved figures of animals and men. Pointing out a puppet, he says _tint an tikche apfl!_ Fur das kind _ein_ Stuckchen Apfel! (A bit of apple for the child.)

Notwithstanding these manifold signs of a use of words that is beginning to be independent, the sound and word imitation continues to exist in enlarged measure. Echolalia has never, perhaps, been more marked, the final words of sentences heard being repeated with the regularity of a machine. If I say, "Leg die Feder hin" (Lay the pen down)! there sounds in response a _feder hin_. All sorts of tones and noises are imitated with varying success; even the whistle of the locomotive, an object in which a pa.s.sionate interest is displayed; the voices of animals; so also German, French, Italian, and English words. The French nasal "n"

(in _bon_, _orange_), however--even in the following months--as well as the English "th," in _there_ (in spite of the existence of the right formation in the fifteenth month), is not attained. The child still laughs regularly when others laugh, and on his part excites merriment through exact reproduction of separate fragments of a dialogue that he does not understand, and that does not concern him; e. g., _da hastn_ (da hast Du ihn) (there you have him), or _aha sist[)e]_ (siehst Du) (do you see)? or _um Gottes willen_ (for G.o.d's sake), the accent in these cases being also imitated with precision. But in his independent use of words the accentuation varies in irregular fashion. Such an arbitrary variation is _bitte_ and _bi-t[)e]_. _Beti_ no longer appears.

As a noteworthy deficiency at this period is to be mentioned the feeble memory for often-prescribed answers to certain questions. To the question of a stranger, "What is your name?" the child for the first time gave of his own accord the answer _Attsell_ (Axel), on the eight hundred and tenth day of his life. On the other hand, improper answers that have been seriously censured remain fixed in his recollection. The impression is stronger here. The weakness of memory is still shown most plainly when we try to make intelligible to the child the numerals one to five. It is a failure. The sensuous impression that _one_ ball makes is so different from that which two b.a.l.l.s make, the given words _one_ and _two_ sound so differently, that we can not help wondering how one and two, and likewise three, four, five, are confounded with one another.

A _question_ has not yet been uttered by the child. The frequent _ist das_ signifies merely "das ist," or it is the echo of the oft-heard question, "Was ist das?" and is uttered without the tone of interrogation. The articles are not used at all yet; at any rate, if used, they are merely imitated without understanding.

The defects of articulation are now less striking, but only very slowly does the correct and distinct p.r.o.nunciation take the place of the erroneous and indistinct. We still have regularly:

_bucher-rank_ for Bucherschrank (book-case).

_fra takkee_ " Fraulein Starke (Miss Starke).

_[=e]r[)e]_, _tseer_ " Schere (shears).

_rab[)e]_, _raiben_ " Schreiben (u. Zeichnen) (write or draw).

_nur_ " Schnur (string).

_neiderin_ " Schneiderin (tailoress).

_dson_ (also _schon_) " schon (pretty).

_lafen_ " schlafen (sleep).

_pucken_ " spucken (spit).

_dsehen_ (also _sehen_) " sehen (see).

The sounds "sch" and "sch" in the "st" as well as in the "sp"

("schneiden, Spiel") are often omitted without any subst.i.tute (_naid[)a]_, _taign_, _piel_); more seldom their place is supplied by "s," as in _swer_ = "schwer" for "mude." Yet _ks_, _ts_ are often given with purity in _bex_, _bux_, _Axl_. The last word is often p.r.o.nounced _Ats[)e]l_ and _Atsli_ (heard by him as "Axeli"), very rarely _Akkl_; in "Aufziehen" the "z" is almost always correctly reproduced. Further, we still have

_locotiwe_ for Locomotive.

_nepf_ " Knopfe (b.u.t.tons).

_ann-nepf_ " anknopfen.

_nits_ " nichts (nothing).

"Milch" is now permanently named correctly; no longer _mimi_, _mich_; Wa.s.ser, _wa.s.sa_, no longer _watja_. But "gefahrlich" is called _fahrlich_; "getrunken," _trunken_.

The twenty-eighth month is characterized by a rapid increase of activity in the formation of ideas, on the one hand, and by considerably greater certainty in the use of words, on the other.

Ambition is developed and makes itself known by a frequent _lanee_ (_allein_, alone). The child wants to undertake all sorts of things without help. He asks for various objects interesting to him, with the words _Ding haben_ (have the thing). That the faculty of observation and of combination is becoming perfected, is indicated by the following: The child sees an ox at the slaughter-house and says _mumu_ (moo-moo); I add "todt" (dead); thereupon comes the response _mumu todt_, and after a pause the child says, of his own accord, _lachtett_ (_geschlachtet_, slaughtered); then _Blut heraus_ (blood out). The beginning of self-control is perceived in this, that the child often recollects, of himself, the strict commands he has received to refrain from this and that. Thus, he had been accustomed to strike members of the family in fun, and this had been forbidden him. Now, when the inclination seizes him still to strike, he says emphatically _nicht lagen_ (_schlagen_,--not strike), _Axel brav_ (good). In general the child names himself only by his name, which he also tells to strangers without being asked. His parents, and these alone, are mostly named _Papa_ and _Mama_, but often also by their names.