The Mind of the Child Part 22

The following is a proof of independent thinking while the understanding of language is still imperfect: At breakfast I say, "Axel is breakfasting with papa, is he not (_nicht wahr_)?" He replies earnestly, with genuine child-logic, _doch wahr_ (but he _is_)!

The earlier appellation _swer_ and _wer_ (schwer--heavy) for mude (tired) is preserved. This transference, like the other one, _locotiwe wa.s.sa trinkt_, when the engine is supplied with water, is the intellectual peculium of the child. The number of such childish conceptions has now become very large. On the other hand, the words independently formed out of what has been heard are not numerous:

_beisst_ for gebissen (bitten), _reit_ " geritten (ridden), _esst_ " gegessen (eaten), _wesen_ " gewesen (been), _austrinkt_ " ausgetrunken (drunk up), _tschulter_ " Schulter (shoulder),

must be considered as mutilations, not as new formations. The great number of words correctly p.r.o.nounced and used continues, on the other hand, to increase. There are even decided attempts to use single _prepositions_: _Nepfe_ (Knopfe) _fur Mama_ (b.u.t.tons for mamma) may be simple repet.i.tion, like _Axel mit Papa_; but as utterances of this kind were not formerly repeated by him, though just as often made in his hearing, the understanding of the "fur" and "mit" must now be awakened.

From this time forth the understanding of several prepositions and the correct use of them abide. In addition there come into this period the first applications of the _article_. However often this part of speech may have been reproduced from the speech of others, it has never been said with understanding; but now in the expressions _um'n Hals_ and _fur'm Axel_ (around the neck and for (the) Axel) there lies the beginning of right use of the article, and, indeed, also in the months immediately succeeding, almost solely of the definite article.

But more significant psychogenetically than all progress of this kind in the manipulation of language is the questioning that becomes active in this month. Although I paid special attention to this point from the beginning, I first heard the child ask a question of his own accord on the eight hundred and forty-fifth day of his life. He asked, "Where is Mima?" From that time on questions were more frequent; but in the time immediately following this his question was always one relating to something in s.p.a.ce. The word "Where?" continued for a long time to be his only interrogative. He has also for a long time understood the "Where?" when he heard it. If, e. g., I asked, "Where is the nose?"

without giving any hint by look or otherwise, this question has for months past been correctly answered by a movement of the child's arm to his nose. It is true that my question, "What is that?" a much more frequent one, is likewise answered correctly, although the word "What?"

has never been used by the child.

His cleverness in reproducing even foreign expressions is surprising.

The words p.r.o.nounced for him by Italians (during a pretty long sojourn on Lake Garda), e. g., _uno_, _due_, _tre_, are given back without the least German accent. "Quattro," to be sure, became _wattro_, but _ancora piccolo_ was absolutely pure. The imitation of the marching of soldiers, with the frequent cry _batelon eins s[)u]ai_ (battalion, one, two), already gives him the greatest pleasure. The imagination that is active in it is to be discerned, however, rather in gestures than in words.

How lively the child's power of imagination is appears also in the fact that flat figures rudely cut out of newspaper, to represent gla.s.ses and cups, are carried to the mouth like real ones.

The _articulation_ has again become a little more perfected, but in many respects it is still a good deal deficient; thus, in regard to the "sch," he says:

_abneiden_ for abschneiden (cut off).

_hirn_ " Stirn (forehead).

_verbrochen_ " versprochen (promised).

_lagn_ " schlagen (strike).

_runtergeluckt_ " heruntergeschluckt (swallowed).

_einteign_ " einsteigen (get in).

On the other hand, _aus-teign_ (Aussteigen) (alight).

Other defects of articulation are shown by the following examples:

_topf_ for klopfen (knock).

_uffte_ " luften (take the air).

_leben_ " kleben (adhere).

_viloa, viloja,_ " Viola.

_dummi_ " Gummi (gum).

The _l mouille_ can not be at all successfully given at the beginning of this month (_bat[)e]l[=o]n_ for "bataillon"), and the nasal sounds in "orange" and "salon" offer insuperable difficulties (up to the second half of the fourth year). At the end of this month, however, I heard a _ganzee bataljohn_ (_j_ like English _y_). "Orange" continued to be, after _oraanjee_ had been given up, _orohs[)e]_. The softening (mouilliren--_nj_ = _n_) was inconvenient in this case.

Quite correctly named at this period were eye, nose, cheek, tongue, mouth, ear, beard, hair, arm, thumb, finger.

Meaningless chatter has become much more rare. On the other hand, the child is in the habit of making all sorts of remarks, especially in the morning early after waking, for a quarter of an hour at a time and longer without interruption, these remarks for the most part consisting of a noun and verb and relating to objects immediately about him.

Monologues also are given in a singing voice, syllables without meaning, often a regular singing, the child meantime running many times around the table; besides, his strong voice is not seldom practiced in producing high tones without any outward occasion; and, finally, it is worthy of note that sometimes in sleep, evidently when the child has a vivid dream, a scream is uttered. Talking in his sleep first appeared in his fourth year.

The greatest advance in the twenty-ninth month consists in the employment of the personal p.r.o.noun in place of his own name: _bitte gib mir Brod_ (please give me bread) was the first sentence in which it appeared. "Ich" (I) is not yet said, but if I ask "Who is 'me'?"

then the child names himself with his own name, as he does in general. Through this employment, more and more frequent from this time forth, of the p.r.o.noun instead of the proper name, is gradually introduced the inflection of the verbs he has heard; but at this time the imperative has its place generally supplied by the infinitive: _P[)a]p[)a] s[=a]gn_ and _Ssooss sitzen_. Sentences composed by himself, or heard and then used by him, like _das meckt_ (schmeckt) _sehr gut_ (that tastes very good), are rare; yet the discrimination between regular and irregular verbs has already begun to be made. To be sure, the question "Where have you been?" is answered with _paziren gegeht_ (goed to walk), and _ausgezieht_ is said for _ausgezogen_ (drawed out), also _geseht_ (seed) instead of _gesehen_ (seen); but at the same time frequently _eingetigen_ and _ausgetigen_, instead of _ein-_ and _aus-geteigt_. An interesting, rare misformation was _grefessen_ for "gefressen." The verbs most frequently used seem to be "haben" (have) and "kommen" (come), and the forms "hat" and "kommt" are indeed correctly used sometimes, e. g., _viel Rauch kommt heraus_ (much smoke comes out), and _gleich kommt Kaffee_ (the coffee is coming). While the infinitives "haben"

and "kommen" are uttered several times a day, the infinitive "sein"

(to be) is never heard; but of this auxiliary verb "ist" and "wesen"

are used, the latter for "gewesen." In every instance where the child expresses a desire by means of a verb, he simply takes the infinitive; e. g., he hears, as he sits in the room, the noise of the railway-train at a distance, and he says, _Locotiwe sehen_.

Further, _numbering_ begins to be active to a noteworthy degree.

Although the numerals are already well known to the child, he still confounds them on all occasions, and in view of the absolute failure of the many attempts to teach the child the significance of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, one might infer that he has not yet perceived the difference between, e. g., 3 matches and 4 matches; yet counting is already taking place, though in very unexpected fashion. The child began, viz., on the eight hundred and seventy-eighth day, suddenly, of his own accord entirely, to count with his nine-pins, putting them in a row, saying with each one, _eins_ (one)! _eins!_ _eins!_ _eins!_ afterward saying _eins!_ _noch eins_ (one more)! _noch eins!_ _noch eins!_ The process of adding is thus performed without the naming of the sums.

The questioning that appeared in the previous month, the surest sign of independent thought in the child, is somewhat more plainly manifest; but "Where" alone serves as the interrogative word, and that in its proper sense: Where is hat? "Which, who, why, when" are not spoken by the child and doubtless not understood, for, although succession in time is in many cases clear to him ("first eat," "then," "now"), yet in many other cases he does not know how to express distinctions of time; just as in comparing many and few, large and small objects, the quant.i.ty is wrongly given. Thus he says correctly, when many counters are to be brought together, _Zuviel_ (too many), but says _Zuviel_ wrongly for _Zuwenig_ (too little) when there is too little b.u.t.ter on his bread. In this case the _Zuviel_ (too much) sounds almost like irony, which, of course, is out of the question at his age. "Too much" and "too little" are confounded in the same way as 5 and 2. Yet, in another respect the memory has made a considerable gain. Expressions long since forgotten by those about the child are suddenly without a.s.signable occasion sometimes uttered again with perfect distinctness, and the child even applies fitly what he has observed. Thus, he brings matches when he sees that some one wants to light a candle. I say to him, "Pick up the bread-crumbs." Upon this the child comes forward, though very slowly, cries out suddenly, _Get broom_, recollecting that he has seen the carpet swept, goes and gets the broom, and sweeps the crumbs away. His memory for the utterances of animals as they have been made for him is very good. If I ask, e. g., "What does the duck say?" the answer is _Kuak kuak_. He has gained also in certainty in naming the separate parts of a drawing, especially of a locomotive, so that one chief condition of speech, in the full sense of the word--memory--may be said to be well developed.

Articulation, on the contrary, makes slow progress. "Hirsch" is called _Hirss_, "Schwalbe" _Walbe_, "Flasche" _Fla.s.see_. The following are generally correctly p.r.o.nounced: _Treppe_, _Fenster_, _Krug_, _Kraut_, _Kuchen_, _Helm_, _Besen_, _Cigarre_, _Hut_, _Giesskanne_, _Dinte_, _Buch_, _Birne_. For "barometer, thermometer," he says _mometer_, for "Schrauben" _raubn_, for "fruhstucken" (to breakfast) still often _fri-ticken_.

In the _thirtieth month_ the independent activity of thought develops more and more. When the child is playing by himself, e. g., he often says to himself: _Eimerchen ausleeren_ (make pail empty); _Hackemesser_ (chopping-knife). Thus his small vocabulary serves him at any rate for making clear his own ideas. Already his thinking is often a low speaking, yet only in part. When language fails him, he first considers well. An example: The child finds it very difficult to turn crosswise or lengthwise one of the nine-pins which he wants to put into its box, and when I say, "Round the other way!" he turns it around in such a way that it comes to lie as it did at the beginning, wrongly. He also pushes the broad side of the cover against the small end of the box. The child evidently understands the expression "Round the other way"; but as the expression is ambiguous (the head of the nine-pin may go to the left, to the right, up, down, back, forward), we can understand that the pin should be turned now one way and again another way, and even brought back to its original position. Then appears the child's own deliberation without words--without any speaking at all, low or loud--until after frequently repeated packing and unpacking hardly any hesitation is shown. Many utterances show how easily at this period objects that have only a slight resemblance to one another or only a few qualities in common are included in one concept. When a roasted apple is peeled, the child sees the peel and says (thinking of his boiled milk, which he saw several hours previous, but which is not now present), _Milch auch Haut_ (milk skin too). Similar is the expression _Kirche lautet_ (church rings) when the tower-clock strikes.

The child forms concepts which comprehend a few qualities in unity, and indeed without designating the concept always by a particular word, whereas the developed understanding more and more forms concepts with many qualities and designates them by words. Hence the concepts of the child have less content and more extent than those of adults. For this reason they are less distinct also, and are often ephemeral, since they break up into narrower, more distinct concepts; but they always testify to activity of thought.

A greater intellectual advance, however, is manifested at this time in the first intentional use of language in order to bring on a game of hide-and-seek. A key falls to the floor. The child picks it up quickly, holds it behind him, and to my question, "Where is the key?" answers _nicht mehr da_ (no longer there). As I found in the following months no falsehood, in the proper sense of the word, to record, but rather that the least error, the most trivial exaggeration, was corrected at once by the child himself, with peculiarly _nave_ seriousness, in a little story, with pauses between the separate words, so, too, in the present case the answer _nicht mehr da_ is no falsehood, but is to be understood as meaning that the key is no longer to be seen. The expression of the face was roguish at the time.

The sole interrogative word continues still to be "Where?" e. g., _Where is ball?_ The demonstratives _da_ (there) and _dort_ (yonder) (_dort ist na.s.s_--wet) were more frequently spoken correctly in answer.

The "I" in place of his own name does not yet appear, because this word does not occur frequently enough in conversation with the child. The bad custom adults have of designating themselves in their talk with little children, not as in ordinary conversation by the word "I," but by the proper name, or as "aunt," "grandma," etc., postpones the time of saying "I" on the part of children. _Me_ is pretty often used at this period, for the reason that it is frequently heard at meal-times in "Give me!"

_Bitte, liebe Mama, gib mir mehr Suppe_ (Please, dear mamma, give me more soup) is, to be sure, learned by heart; but such sentences are at the proper time and in the proper place modified and even independently applied. _Noch mehr_, _immer noch mehr_, _vielleicht_, _fast_ (more, more yet, perhaps, almost), are also expressions often properly employed, the last two, however, with uncertainty still. _Fast gefallen_ (almost fell) the child says when he has actually fallen down.

Although declension and conjugation are as yet absolutely lacking, a transition has become established from the worst form of dysgrammatism to the beginning of correct diction by means of the more frequent use of the plural in nouns (_Rad_, _Rader_), the more frequent employment of the article (_for d[)e] Papa_), the not very rare strong inflection (_gegangen_ instead of the earlier _gegeht_; _genommen_ instead of the earlier _genehmt_). To be sure, the infinitive still stands in the place of the participle and the imperative in by far the great majority of cases. The auxiliaries are often omitted or employed in strange misformations, e. g., "Where have you been?" Answer, _paziren gewarent_ [something like _they wented 'alk_] (wir waren spazieren, spazieren gewesen).

In _articulation_ no perceptible progress is to be recorded. The objects known from the picture-book are indeed for the most part rightly named, but new ones often have their names very much distorted--e. g., "Violine" is persistently called _wilone_. The "sch" is occasionally given correctly, but _s-trumpfe_, _auf-s-tehen_ is the rule. The answer that has been learned to the question, "How old are you?" "Seit November zwei Jahre," is given _wember wai jahr_. The way in which the child learns the correct p.r.o.nunciation is in general twofold: 1. Through frequent hearing of the correct words, since no one speaks as he himself does; thus, e. g., _genommen_ took the place of _genehmt_ without instruction. 2. Through having the words frequently p.r.o.nounced on purpose for him to imitate with the utmost attention. Thus, e. g., the child up to this time always said _Locotiwe_ and _Locopotiwe_. I exhorted him a few times earnestly to say "Locomotive." The result was _Loco-loco-loco-mo-tiwe_, and then _Locomotiwe_, with exact copying of the accent with which I spoke. Singing also is imitated.

His memory for words that denote objects is very good; but when expressions designating something not very apparent to the senses are to be learned, he easily fails. Thus, the left and the right foot or arm, the left and the right cheek or hand, are very often correctly named, but often falsely. The difference between left and right can not be exactly described, explained, or made imaginable to the child.

In the _thirty-first month_ two new questions make their appearance: The child asks, _Welches Papier nehmen?_ (What paper take?) after he has obtained permission to make marks with the pencil, i. e., to _raiben_ (write and draw), and _Was kost die Trommel?_ (What does the drum cost?)

Now the indefinite article appears oftener; it is distinctly audible in _Halt n biss-chen Wa.s.ser!_ More surprising are individual new formations, which disappear, however, soon after their rise; thus, the comparative of "hoch." The child says with perfect distinctness _hocher bauen_ (build higher) in playing with wooden blocks; he thus forms of himself the most natural comparative, like the participle _gegebt_ for "gegeben." In place of "Uhr-schlussel" (watch-key) he says _Slussl-Uhr_ (key-watch), thus placing the princ.i.p.al thing first.

He makes use of the strange expression _heitgestern_ in place of "heute"

(to-day), and in place of "gestern" (yesterday). The two latter taken singly are confounded with each other for a long time yet.

Sentence-forming is still very imperfect: _is smoke_ means "that is smoke" and "there is smoke"; and _kommt Locomotiwe_ stands for "da kommt eine oder die Locomotive" (There comes a, or the, engine). At sight of the bath-tub, however, the child says six times in quick succession _Da kommt kalt Wa.s.ser rein, Marie_ (Cold water is to go in here, Mary). He frequently makes remarks on matters of fact, e. g., _warm out there_. If he has broken a flower-pot, a bandbox, a gla.s.s, he says regularly, of his own accord, _Frederick glue again_, and he reports faithfully every little fault to his parents. But when a plaything or an object interesting to him vexes him, he says, peevishly, _stupid thing_, e. g., to the carpet, which he can not lift; and he does not linger long over one play. His occupation must be changed very often.

The imitations are now again becoming less frequent than in the past months, and expressions not understood are repeated rather for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the family than unconsciously; thus, _Ach Gott_ (Oh G.o.d!) and _wirklich grossartig_ (truly grand). Yet the child sometimes sings in his sleep, several seconds at a time, evidently dreaming.

The p.r.o.nunciation of the "sch," even in the favorite succession of words, _Ganzes Batalljohn marss_ (for "marsch") _eins_, _zwei_, is imperfect, and although no person of those about him p.r.o.nounces the "st" in "Stall, stehen" otherwise than as "scht," the child keeps persistently to _S-tall_, _s-tehen_. The p.r.o.nunciation "scht" began in the last six months of the fourth year of his life, and in the forty-sixth month it completely crowded out the "st," which seems the more remarkable as the child was taken care of by a Mecklenburg woman from the beginning of the fourth year.

In the _thirty-second month_ the "I" began to displace his own name.

_Mir_ (_gib mir_) and _mich_ (_bitte heb mich herauf_, please lift me up) had already appeared in the twenty-ninth to the thirty-first month; _ich komme gleich_, _Geld mocht ich haben_ (I am coming directly, I should like money), are new acquirements. If he is asked "Who is _I_?"

the answer is, _der Axel_. But he still speaks in the third person frequently; e. g., the child says, speaking of himself, _da ist er wieder_ (here he is again), _Axel auch haben_ (Axel have, too), and _mag-[)e] nicht_, thus designating himself at this period in fourfold fashion, by _I_, _he_, _Axel_, and by the omission of all p.r.o.nouns and names. Although _bitte setz mich auf den Stuhl_ (Please put me on the chair) is learned from hearing it said for him, yet the correct application of the sentence, which he makes of himself daily from this time on, must be regarded as an important advance. The same is true of the forming of clauses, which is now beginning to take place, as in _Weiss nicht, wo es ist_ (Don't know where it is). New also is the separation of the particle in compound verbs, as in _fallt immer um_ (keeps tumbling over).

Longer and longer names and sentences are spoken with perfect distinctness, but the influence of the dialect of the neighborhood is occasionally perceptible. His nurse is the one who talks most with him.

She is from the Schwarzwald, and from her comes the omission of the "n"

at the end of words, as in _Kannche_, _trocke_. Besides, the confounding of the surd, "p," with the sonant, "b" (_putter_), is so frequent that it may well be taken from the Thuringian dialect, like the confounding of "eu" and "ei" (_heit_). The only German sounds that still present great difficulties are "sch" and "chts" (in "nichts").

The memory of the child has indeed improved, but it has become somewhat fastidious. Only that which seems interesting and intelligible to the child impresses itself permanently; on the other hand, useless and unintelligible verses learned by rote, that persons have taught him, though seldom, for fun, are forgotten after a few days.

In the _thirty-third month_ the strength of memory already mentioned for certain experiences shows itself in many characteristic remarks. Thus the child, again absent from home with his parents for some weeks, says almost every evening, _gleich blasen die Soldaten_ (the soldiers, i. e., the band, will play directly), although no soldier is to be seen in the country far and wide. But at home the music was actually to be heard every evening.

At sight of a c.o.c.k in his picture-book the child says, slowly, _Das ist der Hahn--kommt immer--das ganze Stuck fortnehmt--von der Hand--und lauft fort_ ("That is the c.o.c.k--keeps coming--takes away the whole piece--out of the hand--and runs off"). This narrative--the longest yet given, by the way--has reference to the feeding of the fowls, on which occasion the c.o.c.k had really carried off a piece of bread. The doings of animals in general excited the attention of the child greatly. He is capable even of forgetting to eat, in order to observe a.s.siduously the movements of a fly. _Jetzt geht in die Zeitung--geht in die Milch!_ _Fort Thier! Geh fort! Unter den Kaffee!_ (Now he is going into the newspaper--going into the milk! Away, creature! go away! into the coffee!) His interest is very keen for other moving objects also, particularly locomotives.