But not one word has the child himself invented. When a new expression appears it may be surely traced to what has been heard, asuppe,oppee,appee,appei, to "Suppe." The name alone by which he calls on his nurse,wolá, seemed hard to explain. If any one says, "Call Mary," the child invariably callswolá. It is probable, as he used to call itwolja, that the appellation has its origin in the often-heard "ja wohl."
The correct use of single words, picked up, onemight say, at random, increases in a surprising manner. Here belongbaden,reiputtse, for "Reissuppe,"la-ockfor "Schlafrock,"boterfor "Butter,"Butterbrod,Uhr,Buch,Billerboochfor "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 styledputt(for "caput," gone to smash); and if the child has himself broken anything he scolds his own hand, and saysoioroui, in place of "pfui" (fie)! He wants to write to his grandmother, and asks forPapier, adaitipf(for "Bleistift," pencil), and saysraiwe(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, hisunderstandingof 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 allsorts on his birthday, he saysburtsa(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 kuhasignifies "Aunt has given me cake";Kaffee naïn, "There is no coffee here"; andmama etseeoretseis intelligible only by means of the accompanying gesture as the expression of the wish, "Mamma, sit by me."Helle pummesignifies 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 relatedmimi atta teppa papa oï, 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, pronouns, which are not for a long time yetunderstood in their true sense, signify objects themselves or their qualities.Dein bettmeans "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:
Of his own accord the child pointed out with certainty in the picture-book—
With these words, the meaning of which the child knows well, though he does not yet pronounce them perfectly, are to be ranked many more which have not been taught him, but which he has himself appropriated Thus,tolafor Kohlen (coals),dalsfor Salz (salt). Other words spontaneously appropriated are, however, already pronounced correctly and correctly used, asPapier(paper),Holz(wood),Hut(hat),Wagen(carriage),Teppich(carpet),Deckel(cover),Milch,Teller(oftentellĕ,Frau,Mann,Mäuse. These cases form the minority, and are striking in the midst of the manifold mutilations which now constitute the child's speech. Of these mutilations some are, even to his nearest relatives whoare in company with the child every day, unintelligible or only with great pains to be unriddled. Thus, the child calls himselfAttallinstead of Axel; says alsorräus Atslfor "heraus Axel," i. e., "Axel wants to go out." He still saysbitafor "bitte," and oftenmimaormamifor Marie;apffor "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 inHandschuh; and yet in other words, as appears from the above examples, it is either simply left out or has its place supplied byzandss. Further, it sounds almost like wantonness when frequently the surd consonant is put in place of the sonant one orvice versa; when, e. g.,puch(for Buch)pücherris said on the one hand, andwortinstead 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 hastybillerbuchorpillerpuch.
The babbling monologues have become infrequent and more of a play with words and the syllables of them, e. g., in the frequently repeatedpapa-ŭ-á-ŭa.
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,gunná-itz-boum, i. e., "Gute nacht, Christbaum!" The most of his sentencesstill consist of two words, one of which is often a verb in the infinitive. Thus,helle mama,helle mami, i. e., "helfen (help) Mama, Marie!" andbibak tommen, i. e., "der Zwieback soll kommen" (let the biscuit come); ortsee machen(makec)—on the piano the keysc,d,e, had often been touched separately by the little fingers accidentally, and the applause when in response to the question, "Where isc?" the right key was touched, excited the wish for repetition;roth,drün machen(make red or green)—the child was instructed by me in the naming of colors; anddekkn 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 circumstances, and associates 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 isthat 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 saysdankee.
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 pronounced to him by his nurse and has retained them; just sohottofor "Pferd" (horse), likelingelingfor "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 beforethe 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,näĕn(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), "Itdoestaste good," thus distinguishing the past in the question from the present. The development of observation andcomparisonis indicated by the circumstance that salt is also calledsand. On the other hand, the feeling of gratitude is as yet quite undeveloped. The child, as in the previous month, saysdankeeto 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 ofarme wiebak(armer Zwieback—poor biscuit)! when a biscuit is divided, andarme holz(poor wood)! when a stick of wood is thrown into the stove. Nobody has taught the child anything of that sort.
The independent observations which he expressescorrectly 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.
Dass 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 ofverbsin the infinitive or of substantives alone. Thus,papa auf-tehen(papa, get up),frü-tükken(breakfast),aus-taigen(get out),nicht blasen(not blow—in building card-houses),pieldose aufziehn(wind up the music-box), andbiback(I should like a biscuit). Into these sentences of one, two, and three words there come, however, single adverbs not before used and indefinite pronouns, likeēēnandĕintannēēn nichtortannĕnicht, for "kannernicht" or "kannesnicht."Butter drauf(butter on it),Mama auch tommen(mamma come, too),noch mehr(more),blos Wasser(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 wordmessen. 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, ormerely points at it with his hand, he says repeatedlymessen! Only after instruction did he sayMesser 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 "schälen" (pare). Hence, both in one were namedmessen(for "messern," it may be). The two expressions that used to be heard many times daily, the namewolàfor the nurse Mima (Mary) andatta, have now almost disappeared.Atta wesenfor "draussen gewesen" (been out) is still used, it is true, but only seldom. In place of it come nowweg,fort,aus, andallall, in the sense of "empty," "finished." The too comprehensive, too indefinite conceptattahas 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 homogeneous 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, astochen 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—incorrectlyused, the latter would say—there is, however, noillogicalemployment of them on the part of the child. For it is always the fact, as in the last example, that the concept associated with the word is taken in a more extended sense. The very young childinfers 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, theinductiveprocess, now prevails. The once favorite monologues, pure, meaningless exercises of articulation, of voice and of hearing, are, on the contrary, falling off. The frequent repetition 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 saystint aïn tikche apfl!Für das kindeinStückchen 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 afeder hin. All sorts of tones and noises are imitated with varying success; even the whistle of the locomotive, an object in which a passionate interest is displayed; thevoices of animals; so also German, French, Italian, and English words. The French nasal "n" (inbon,orange), however—even in the following months—as well as the English "th," inthere(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), oraha sistĕ(siehst Du) (do you see)? orum Gottes willen(for God'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 isbittéandbi-tĕ.Betino 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 answerAttsell(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 thatoneball makes is so different from that which two balls make, the given wordsoneandtwosound so differently, that we can not help wondering how one and two, and likewise three, four, five, are confounded with one another.
Aquestionhas not yet been uttered by the child. The frequentist dassignifies 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 pronunciation take the place of the erroneous and indistinct. We still have regularly:
The sounds "sch" and "sch" in the "st" as well as in the "sp" ("schneiden, Spiel") are often omitted without any substitute (naidă,taign,piel); more seldom their place is supplied by "s," as inswer= "schwer" for "müde." Yetks,tsare often given with purity inbex,bux,Axl. The last word is often pronouncedAtsĕlandAtsli(heard by him as "Axeli"), very rarelyAkkl; in "Aufziehen" the "z" is almost always correctly reproduced. Further, we still have
"Milch" is now permanently named correctly; no longermimi,mich; Wasser,wassa, no longerwatja.But "gefährlich" is calledfährlich; "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 frequentlaïnee(allein, alone). The child wants to undertake all sorts of things without help. He asks for various objects interesting to him, with the wordsDing 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 saysmumu(moo-moo); I add "todt" (dead); thereupon comes the responsemumu todt, and after a pause the child says, of his own accord,lachtett(geschlachtet, slaughtered); thenBlut 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 emphaticallynicht 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 namedPapaandMama, but often also by their names.
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 repliesearnestly, with genuine child-logic,doch wahr(but heis)!
The earlier appellationswerandwer(schwer—heavy) for müde (tired) is preserved. This transference, like the other one,locotiwe wassa 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:
must be considered as mutilations, not as new formations. The great number of words correctly pronounced and used continues, on the other hand, to increase. There are even decided attempts to use singleprepositions:Nepfe(Knöpfe)für Mama(buttons for mamma) may be simple repetition, likeAxel 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 "für" 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 thearticle. 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 expressionsum'n Halsandfür'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 space. 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 pronounced 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, becamewattro, butancora piccolowas absolutely pure. The imitation of the marching of soldiers, with the frequent crybatelón eins sŭai(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 inwords. How lively the child's power of imagination is appears also in the fact that flat figures rudely cut out of newspaper, to represent glasses and cups, are carried to the mouth like real ones.
Thearticulationhas 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:
Other defects of articulation are shown by the following examples:
Thel mouillécan not be at all successfully given at the beginning of this month (batĕlōnfor "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 aganzee bataljohn(jlike Englishy). "Orange" continued to be, afteroraanjeehad been given up,orohsĕ. The softening (mouilliren—nj=ñ) 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 pronoun 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 pronoun 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:PăpăsāgnandSsooss sitzen. Sentences composed by himself, or heard and then used by him, likedas 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 withpaziren gegeht(goed to walk), andausgeziehtis said forausgezogen(drawed out), alsogeseht(seed) instead ofgesehen(seen); but at the same time frequentlyeingetigenandausgetigen, instead ofein-andaus-geteigt. An interesting, rare misformation wasgrefessenfor "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), andgleich 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,numberingbegins 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 sayingeins!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 quantity is wrongly given. Thus he says correctly, when many counters are to be brought together,Zuviel(too many), but saysZuvielwrongly forZuwenig(too little) when there is too little butter on his bread. In this case theZuviel(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 assignable 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 isKuak 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 calledHirss, "Schwalbe"Walbe, "Flasche"Flassee. The following are generally correctly pronounced:Treppe,Fenster,Krug,Kraut,Kuchen,Helm,Besen,Cigarre,Hut,Giesskanne,Dinte,Buch,Birne. For "barometer, thermometer," he saysmometer, for "Schrauben"raubn, for "frühstücken" (to breakfast) still oftenfri-ticken.
In thethirtieth monththe 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 tothe 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 expressionKirche läutet(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?" answersnicht mehr da(no longer there). AsI 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 peculiarlynaïveseriousness, in a little story, with pauses between the separate words, so, too, in the present case the answernicht mehr dais 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 demonstrativesda(there) anddort(yonder) (dort ist nass—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.Meis 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,Räder), the more frequent employment of the article (för dĕPapa), the not very rare strong inflection (gegangeninstead of the earliergegeht;genommeninstead of the earliergenehmt). 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 likethey wented 'alk] (wir waren spazieren, spazieren gewesen).
Inarticulationno 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 calledwiloïne. The "sch" is occasionally given correctly, buts-trümpfe,auf-s-tehenis the rule. The answer that has been learned to the question, "How old are you?" "Seit November zwei Jahre," is givenwember wai jahr. The way in which the child learns the correct pronunciation is in general twofold: 1. Through frequent hearing of the correct words, since no one speaks as he himself does; thus, e. g.,genommentook the place ofgenehmtwithout instruction. 2. Through having the words frequently pronounced on purpose for him to imitate with the utmost attention. Thus, e. g., the child up to this time always saidLocotiweandLocopotiwe. I exhorted hima few times earnestly to say "Locomotive." The result wasLoco-loco-loco-mo-tiwe, and thenLocomotiwe, 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 thethirty-first monthtwo 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., toraiben(write and draw), andWas kost die Trommel?(What does the drum cost?)
Now the indefinite article appears oftener; it is distinctly audible inHalt n biss-chen Wasser!More surprising are individual new formations, which disappear, however, soon after their rise; thus, the comparative of "hoch." The child says with perfect distinctnesshocher bauen(build higher) in playing with wooden blocks; he thus forms of himself the most natural comparative, like the participlegegebtfor "gegeben." In place of "Uhr-schlüssel" (watch-key) he saysSlüssl-Uhr(key-watch), thus placing the principal thing first.
He makes use of the strange expressionheitgesternin 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 smokemeans "that is smoke" and "there is smoke"; andkommt Locomotiwestands 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 successionDa kommt kalt Wasser 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 glass, 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 amusement of the family than unconsciously; thus,Ach Gott(Oh God!) andwirklich grossartig(truly grand). Yet the child sometimes sings in his sleep, several seconds at a time, evidently dreaming.
The pronunciation 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 pronounces the "st" in "Stall, stehen" otherwise than as "scht," the child keeps persistently toS-tall,s-tehen. The pronunciation "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 thechild was taken care of by a Mecklenburg woman from the beginning of the fourth year.
In thethirty-second monththe "I" began to displace his own name.Mir(gib mir) andmich(bitte heb mich herauf, please lift me up) had already appeared in the twenty-ninth to the thirty-first month;ich komme gleich,Geld möcht ich haben(I am coming directly, I should like money), are new acquirements. If he is asked "Who isI?" 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), andmag-ĕnicht, thus designating himself at this period in fourfold fashion, byI,he,Axel, and by the omission of all pronouns and names. Althoughbitte 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 inWeiss nicht, wo es ist(Don't know where it is). New also is the separation of the particle in compound verbs, as infällt 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 inKännche,trocke. Besides, the confounding of the surd, "p," with the sonant, "b" (putter), is so frequent that it may well betaken 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 thethirty-third monththe 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 cock in his picture-book the child says, slowly,Das ist der Hahn—kommt immer—das ganze Stück fortnehmt—von der Hand—und laüft fort("That is the cock—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 cock 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 assiduously 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.
How little clearness there is in his conceptions of animal and machine, however, appears from the fact that both are addressed in the same way. When his father's brother comes, the child says, turning to his father,neuer(new)Papa; he has not, therefore, the slightest idea of that which the word "father" signifies. Naturally he can have none. Yet selfhood (Ichheit) has come forth at this period in considerably sharper manifestation. He cries,Das Ding haben! das will ich, das will ich, das will ich, das Spiel möcht ich haben!(Have the thing! I want it, I should like the game.) To be sure, when one says "komm, ich knöpfs dir zu" (come, I will button it for you), the child comes, and says, as an echo,ich knöpfs dir zu(I will button it for you), evidently meaning, "Button it for me"! He also confoundszu viel(too much) withzu wenig(too little),nie(never) withimmer(always),heute(to-day) withgestern(yesterday); on the contrary, the wordsund,sondern,noch,mehr,nur,bis,wo(and, but, still, more, only, till, where) are always used correctly. The most striking mistakes are those of conjugation, which is still quite erroneous (e. g.,getrinktandgetrunktalong withgetrunken), and of articulation, the "sch" (dsenfor "schön") being only seldom pure, mostly given as "s" or "ts." "Toast" is calledToosandDose.
After the first thousand days of his life had passed, the observation of him was continued daily, but not therecord in writing. Some particulars belonging to the following months may be noted:
Many expressions accidentally heard by the child that excited the merriment of the family when once repeated by him, were rehearsed times without number in a laughing, roguish, obtrusive manner, thus,du liebe Zeit. The child also calls out the name of his nurse,Marie, often without meaning, over and over again, even in the night. He calls others also by this name in manifest distraction of mind, often making the correction himself when he perceives the mistake.
More and more seldom does the child speak of himself in the third person, and then he calls himself by his name, never saying "he" any more. Usually he speaks of himself as "I," especially "I will, I will have that, I can not." Gradually, too, he usesDuin address, e. g.,Was für hübsen Rock hast Du(What a handsome coat you have)! Here the manner of using the "Was" is also new.
On the ten hundred and twenty-eighth daywarum(why?) was first used in a question. I was watching with the closest attention for the first appearance of this word. The sentence ran,Warum nach Hause gehen? ich will nicht nach Hause(Why go home? I don't want to go home). When a wheel creaked on the carriage, the child asked,Was macht nur so(What makes that)? Both questions show that at last the instinct of causality, which manifested itself more than a year before in a kind of activity of inquiry, in experimenting, and even earlier (in the twelfth week) in giving attention to things, is expressedin language; but the questioning is often repeated in a senseless way tillit reaches the point of weariness.Warum wird das Holz gesnitten?(for "gesägt"—Why is the wood sawed?)Warum macht der Frödrich die [Blumen] Töpfe rein?(Why does Frederick clean the flower-pots?) are examples of childish questions, which when they receive an answer, and indeed whatever answer, are followed by fresh questions just as idle (from the standpoint of adults); but they testify plainly to a far-reaching independent activity of thought. So with the frequent question,Wie macht man das nur?(How is that done?)
It is to be said, further, that I found the endeavor impracticable to ascertain the order of succession in which the child uses the different interrogative words. It depends wholly on the company about him at what time first this or that turn of expression or question is repeated and then used independently. "Why" is heard by him, as a rule, less often than "What?" and "How?" and "Which?" Still, it seems remarkable that I did not once hear the child say "When?" until the close of the third year. The sense of space is, to be sure, but little developed at that time, but the sense of time still less. The use of the word "forgotten" (ich habe vergessen) and of "I shall" (do this or that) is exceedingly rare.
The articulation was speedily perfected; yet there was no success at all in the repetition of French nasal sounds. In spite of much pains "salon" remainedsalo, "orange"orose; and the French "je" also presented insuperable difficulties. Of German sounds, "sch" alone was seldom correct. It was still represented bys; for example, inslossfor "Schloss,"ssoossfor "Schooss."
His fondness for singing increases, and indeed all sorts of meaningless syllables are repeated with pleasure again and again, much as in the period of infancy, only more distinctly; but, just as at that time, they can not all be represented on paper or even be correctly reproduced by adults. For a considerable time he was fond ofē-la,ē-la,la,la,la,la, in higher and higher pitch, and with unequal intervals,lálla-lálla,lilalula. In this it was certainly more the joy over the increasing compass and power of his voice that stimulated him to repetition than it was the sound of the syllables; yet in the thirty-sixth month he showed great pleasure in his singing, of which peculiar, though not very pleasing, melodies were characteristic. The singing over of songs sung to him was but very imperfectly successful. On the other hand, the copying of the manner of speaking, of accent, cadence, and ring of the voices of adults was surprising, although echolalia proper almost ceased or appeared again only from time to time.
Grammatical errors are already becoming more rare. A stubborn fault in declension is the putting ofamin place ofdemandder, e. g.,das am Mama geben. Long sentences are formed correctly, but slowly and with pauses, without errors, e. g.,die Blume—ist ganz durstig—möcht auch n bischen Wasser haben(The flower is quite thirsty—would like a little water). If I ask now, "From whom have you learned that?" the answer comes regularly,das hab ich alleine gelernt(I learned it alone). In general the child wants to manage for himself without assistance, to pull, push, mount, climb, water flowers, crying out repeatedly and passionately,ich möcht ganz alleine(I want to [do it] all alone). Inspite of this independence and these ambitious inclinations, there seldom appears an invention of his own in language. Here belongs, e. g., the remark of the child,das Bett ist zu holzhart(the bed is too wooden-hard), after having hit himself against the bed-post. Further, to the question, "Do you like to sleep in the large room?" he answered,O ja ganz lieberich gern; and when I asked, "Who, pray, speaks so?" the answer came very slowly, with deliberation and with pauses,nicht-nicht-nicht-nicht-nicht-niemand(not—nobody).
How far advanced is the use of the participles, which are hard to master, is shown by the sentence,die Milch ist schon heiss gemacht worden(the milk has already been made hot).
The child's manner of speaking when he was three years old approximated more and more rapidly to that of the family through continued listening to them and imitation of them, so that I gave up recording it; besides, the abundant—some may think too abundant—material already presented supplies facts enough to support the foundations of the history of the development of speech in the child as I have attempted to set it forth. A systematic, thorough-going investigation requires the combined labor of many, who must all strive to answer the same questions—questions which in this chronological survey are, in regard to one single individual, in part answered, but in part could merely be proposed.
To observe the child every day during the first thousand days of his life, in order to trace the historical development of speech, was possible only through self-control, much patience, and great expenditure of time;but such observations are necessary, from the physiological, the psychological, the linguistic, and the pedagogic point of view, and nothing can supply their place.
In order to secure for them the highest degree of trustworthiness, I have adhered strictly, without exception, to the following rules:
1. I have not adopted a single observation of the accuracy of which I was notmyselfmost positively convinced. Least of all can one rely on the reports of nurses, attendants, and other persons not practiced in scientific observing. I have often, merely by a brief, quiet cross-examination, brought such persons to see for themselves the erroneous character of their statements, particularly in case these were made in order to prove how "knowing" the infants were. On the other hand, I owe to the mother of my child, who has by nature a talent for observation such as is given to few, a great many communications concerning his mental development which have been easily verified by myself.
2. Every observation mustimmediatelybe entered in writing in a diary that is always lying ready. If this is not done, details of the observations are often forgotten; a thing easily conceivable, because these details in themselves are in many ways uninteresting—especially the meaningless articulations—and they acquire value only in connection with others.
3. In conducting the observations every artificial strain upon the child is to be avoided, and the effort is to be made as often as possible to observe without the child's noticing the observer at all.
4. All training of the one-year-old and of the two-year-old child must be, so far as possible, prevented. I have in this respect been so far successful that my child was not until late acquainted with such tricks as children are taught, and was not vexed with the learning by heart of songs, etc., which he was not capable of understanding. Still, as the record shows, not all unnecessary training could be avoided. The earlier a little child is constrained to perform ceremonious and other conventional actions, the meaning of which is unknown to him, so much the earlier does he lose the poetic naturalness which, at any rate, is but brief and never comes again; and so much the more difficult becomes the observation of his unadulterated mental development.
5. Every interruption of one's observation for more than a day demands the substitution of another observer, and, after taking up the work again, a verification of what has been perceived and noted down in the interval.
6. Three times, at least, every day the same child is to be observed, and everything incidentally noticed is to be put upon paper, no less than that which is methodically ascertained with reference to definite questions.
In accordance with these directions, tested by myself, all my own observations in this book, and particularly those of this chapter, were conducted. Comparison with the statements of others can alone give them a general importance.
What has been furnished by earlier observers in regard to children's learning to speak is, however, not extensive. I have collected some data in an appendix.