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.
The doll furnishes an illustration of the process of making generic names. 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. A certain number of the words called symbolic by some recent philologists have been mastered: "now," "there," "other," or "’nother," are in constant use; the child often says "there it is" (in the compendious form, zhátis), and almost always adds "now" to the statement of anything she wants (e. g., "Bring—cake—now"). "Again" is also in use, though not quite so much. The following approach to a complex sentence is reported: "Out—pull—baby—pecs" (spectacles). 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. Of consonants ch, j, and th (both sounds), are still imperfect (th hard mostly becomes s, th soft, z), and consonantal r is not yet formed at all.
At twenty-two months one day, a real verbal inflection was used. She said of a younger child, "naughty baby"; and being asked why it was naughty answered without hesitation, klaid (cried). 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
- ↑ Simple k is now substituted for the initial kh in this word; which again, as noted above, had replaced a more complicated aspirate sound.
