The precise way in which these pronominal forms first appear is very curious. Many children use "me" before "I." Preyer's boy appears to have first used the form "to me" (mir). "My," too, is apt to appear among the earliest forms. In such different ways does the child pass to the new and difficult region of pronominal speech.
The meaning of this transition has given rise to much discussion. It is plain, to begin with, that a child can not acquire these forms as he acquires the names "papa," "nurse," by a direct and comparatively mechanical mode of imitation. When he does imitate in this fashion he produces, as we have seen, the absurdity of speaking of himself as "you." Hence during the first year or so of speech he makes no use of these forms. He speaks of himself as "baby" or some equivalent name, others coming down to his level and setting him the example.
The transition seems to be due in part, as I have already pointed out, to a growing self-consciousness, to a clearer singling out of the ego or self as the center of thought and activity, and the understanding of the other "persons" in relation to this center. Not that self-consciousness begins with the use of "I." The child has, no doubt, a rudimentary self-consciousness when he talks about himself as about any other object; yet the use of the forms "I," "me," may be taken to mark the greater precision of the idea of self as not merely one among a group of things, but as something distinct from and opposed to other things—what we call the subject or ego.[1]
While, however, we may set down this exchange of the proper name for the forms "I" and "me" as due to the spontaneous growth of the child's intelligence, it is possible that education exerts its influence too. It is conjecturable that, as a child's intelligence grows, others in speaking to him tend unknowingly to introduce the forms "I" and "you" more frequently. Yet I am disposed to think that the child commonly takes the lead here. However this be, it is clear that growth of intelligence, involving that of interest in others' words, will lead to a closer attention to these pronominal forms as employed by others. In this way the environment works on the growing mind of the child, stimulating it to direct its thoughts to these subtle relations of the "me and not me," "mine and thine." The more intelligent the environment the greater will be the stimulating influence; hence, in part at least, the difference of age when the new style of speech is attained.
The acquirement of these pronominal forms is a slow and irksome business. At first they are introduced hesitatingly and
- ↑ Cf. Study V, January number of this magazine, p. 351.
