440 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gestive parallels in these developmental changes in children's 

 articulation. 



The rapidity of articulatory progress might be measured by a 

 careful noting of the increase in the number of vocables mastered 

 from month to month. Although Preyer and others have given 

 lists of vocables used at particular ages and parents have sent me 

 lists, I have met with no methodical record of the gradual exten- 

 sion of the articulate field. It is obvious that any observations un- 

 der this head, save in the very early stages, can only be very rough. 

 No observer of a talkative child, however attentive, can make 

 sure of all the word-sounds used. It is to be noted, too, as I have 

 been assured by parents, that a child will sometimes show that 

 he can master a sound, and will even make temporary use of it, 

 without retaining it as a part of the permanent linguistic stock.* 



It is now time to pass from the mechanical to the logical side 

 of this early child-language, to the meanings which the small lin- 

 guist gives to his articulate sounds, and the way in which he 

 modifies these meanings. The growth of child-speech means a 

 concurrent progress in the mastery of word-form and in the ac- 

 quisition of ideas. In this each of the two factors aids the other, 

 the advance of ideas j)ushing the child to new uses of sounds, and 

 the growing facility in word-formation reacting powerfully on 

 the ideas, giving them definition of outline and fixity of structure. 

 I shall not attempt here to give a complete account of the process, 

 but content myself with touching on one or two of its more inter- 

 esting aspects. 



I have pointed out that a child, in imitating the speech of 

 others, does so by associating the sound heard with the object, 

 situation, or action in connection with which others are observed 

 to use it. Bat the first imitation of words does not show that the 

 little mind has seized their full and precise meaning. A clear and 

 exact apprehension of meaning comes but slowly, and only as the 

 result of many hard thought-processes, comparisons, and discrimi- 

 nations. 



It is now recognized that a child's first imitative talk, which 

 might be described as monepic or single-worded as " wow-wow," 

 "dow" (down) is essentially vague in so far as the word-sound 

 used covers a number of our meanings. Thus " wow-wow" may 

 mean " the dog is there," or " the dog is doing something," or " I 



* As samples of the observations the following may be taken : A friend tells me his 

 boy, when one year old, used just fifty vocables. The performances vary greatly. One 

 American girl of twenty-two months had sixty- nine, whereas another, about the same age, 

 had one hundred and thirty-six just twice the number. A German girl, eighteen months 

 old, is said by Preyer to have used one hundred and nineteen words, and to have raised this 

 to four hvmdred and thirty-five in the next six months. The composition of these early 

 vocabularies will occupy us presently. 



