Frederick Pollock

“ The child had been told, half in joke, that cabs were dirty as compared with her perambulator. For some days she had been accustomed to say "dirty" on the mention of cab, "clean" on the mention of perambulator. Now she made the whole statement for herself: Kábz dati klam [1] klin ("cabs dirty, peram’ clean") . She still talks constantly to herself, and with a continuity giving more or less evidence of continuous trains of thought. I am informed of dramatic conversations with her doll, such as pretending to make it look at things, and describing them to it. ”

“ A doll was named "Bessie," in honor of the donor; some time afterward another doll was given by another person. The child insisted on calling this "Bessie," too. She does not seem to feel the want of a specific distinction between the two dolls; when she does wish to speak of one as distinct from the other, she says "other Bessie." In like manner, bet (bacon) is used with a generalized meaning, nearly ὅφον, to denote any dish that appears at breakfast.
Twenty-two months. Vocabulary and power of expression are gradually and steadily extending. ”

“ The fork is a toy fork in the set of things generally called ding or din. But fák has another unexpected meaning. The child likes to look at an old illustrated edition of Dr. Watts's poems, and she has turned "Watts" also into fák. It is possible, as M. Taine suggests, that to her there is some shade of difference in the sounds which escapes adult ears. At twenty months twenty-five days she said vats or váts. "Walk" has its proper sense as a mode of motion, opposed to riding, in perambulator for herself, or in carriage for others. ”

“ Simpler combinations are freely used: subject and verb, as "run away man;" or, subject, verb, and régime, as "mama get Bessie." The sense is generally optative or imperative, but sometimes indicative. She often says es es (yes) to emphasize her demands, as: "Es es—baby's book there."
Articulation is firmer, and very distinct. She says "good-by" better than most adults, but making two separate words of it, and dwelling strongly on the "good." The vowel-range is increased, but a, á, are still favorite sounds. ”

“ When s comes before another consonant, one of the two is dropped. K is in some words confused with p or t. She says "oken" for "open," "kek" for "take."
The child takes pleasure in quasi-dramatic games and actions with her parents as well as with her doll. Sometimes, when saying goodnight, she pretends to refuse a kiss, and lets me make a fausse sortie, as if annoyed or indifferent, and then calls "dada come back" (or "comed," for she uses this form for present and past indiscriminately, which compels me to set a lower value on her appreciation of inflections) , and gives the kiss after all. ”

“ The "no" is not given as it would be by an adult, as a distinct exclamation following a pause. There is no stop and no raising of the voice. When she is impatient, "baby have, baby have, baby have," is rapidly repeated. She is very persistent in trying to get a desired object, and if she cannot have it at once does not give it up, but proceeds to make the best terms she can ”

“ That she appreciates the general force of the inflection is shown about a week later by her using "comed" for the participle "come."
At twenty-two months ten days, a sentence is noted ex relatione, containing not only a direct but an indirect régime: "Annie—gave—baby—sugar;" and again, a day or two later, "Dada give bátá (butter, i. e., bread and butter) baby." Talk to the doll is now very common, as, "Bessie look," "Bessie walk away:" sometimes the child repeats to the doll what has been said to her by elders. She also puts the doll to bed, takes it out for a walk and brings it home, etc. ”

“ Children differ so much in forwardness that the time of particular acquisitions seems of little importance as compared with their order. Though I have no pretensions to skill in phonetics, I thought it at least desirable to use some consistent notation for the sounds actually produced. ”

“ Final consonants are seldom or never given, and the vocabulary is essentially monosyllabic, the only exceptions being in the nature of proper names ("baby,"; ná-ni, ná-ná) , and even these are reduplicated monosyllables rather than dissyllables proper. She once said "lady" pretty well, but did not take it into use. No construction is yet attempted ”

“ Ding dinner not the meal or meal-time, but a toy dinner-service.
Bé bé biscuit, with desiderative-imperative tone and meaning.
Nineteen months. O sound now distinctly made, and g distinct by the end of the month. "Guy" is now gá instead of dá. A final l once or twice observed: t'âl shawl. Final t distinctly made: hat or hot (hot) . Soon afterward p (in "top," pronounced tap or töp) ; pu foot; after mastering final t she said fat. The monosyllabic form (one consonant and one vowel) still prevails. ”

“ She has learned to repeat no no after she has been told not to do something, as an act of assent to the prohibition, and she seems to take pleasure in saying no no to the cat.
Twenty months. Dash or dásh dust. Tá'sh or tá'sh, learned, I think, from "touch," one day repeated several times without assignable meaning, and then dropped. Tásh, however, is adopted for [mus] tache. N. B.—Final sibilants are more under command than initial. Final g now produced: geg fizgig (toy so called) .
At this time a sudden advance was made to dissyllables. ”

“ Even with these resources the child already contrives to express a good deal, filling up the meaning of her syllables with a great variety of tone, and also with inarticulate interjections. Impatience, satisfaction, disappointment, amusement, are all very well marked ”

“ She laughs afterward, which I think is fair evidence that she understands the performance and considers it a good joke.
Seventeen months. Ni (knee) . This is a real word, used in a special and at the same time extended meaning. It signifies, Take me on your knee and show me pictures; and also expresses in a general way the idea of something (generally the cat) being on a person's lap, so that nú not unfrequently means, I want to see the cat on your lap. She also puts a toy dog on her knee and repeats nú several times with great satisfaction. ”

“ The child said wah wah to figures of animals, and attempted to smell at trees in the illustrations of the Graphic. (Six months later she pretends to feed the dogs in a picture.) The fact is curious, having regard to the inability of adult savages, as reported by many travelers, to make anything of even the simplest representations of objects. ”

“ She can now say "yes" (es, or is, sometimes as) and "no" in answer to questions with fair intelligence, though she sometimes answers at random, and sometimes gives the wrong answer on purpose for a joke. One of her new words is fa-ni (funny) , which she uses in a wider sense than adults, for anything that pleases and surprises her. The imitative name for the cat is dropped, and she now says (for "pussy") pü-si (ü as in South-German, coming very near to i) . "Funny" is also used to disguise fear, e. ”