AN INFANT'S PROGRESS IN LANGUAGE. 59 5 



to bed, takes it out for a walk and brings it home, etc. On one occa- 

 sion she scolded it for two or three minutes, saying " naughty Bessie " 

 with much gravity. We could not discover what the supposed offense 

 was. I may observe on this that I have no reason to doubt that all the 

 play with her doll is purely and consciously dramatic, not animistic ; in 

 other words, I have seen nothing- to indicate a belief that the doll is reallv 

 alive, nor is there, so far as I can observe, any tendency to attribute 

 life to other inanimate objects. I think the child is perfectly aware of 

 the difference between animals and things, though I am unable to give 

 specific reasons for this impression. " x\gain" is now used to strengthen 

 " more : " when she wants anything repeated she says " more 'gain." 

 The following is an actual short conversation, on seeing an ivory ring 

 spun teetotum-wise : " Baby do't . . . [after failure to make it spin 

 herself] more 'gain . . . ma-ma 'gain . . . ma-ma do't . . . [then 

 turning to another object of interest] . . . baby's belts (basket) . . . 

 ma-ma, take off cover." Command of general and symbolic language 

 continues to make almost daily progress. Zdt sing (that thing) is now 

 used to call attention to any desired object, the name of which has not 

 been mastered. 



At twenty-two and a half months, besides the dramatic play with 

 the doll, we have now some quasi-dramatic imitation of grown-up 

 people's action. For some time the child has been accustomed to bring 

 the newspaper to the breakfast-table, and she always pretends to read 

 it herself before handing it over. To-day, seeing her mother writing, 

 she scratched the paper with a dry pen, saying, " Baby lait (write) 

 ma-ma's letter." 



Twenty-three months. Fluency and command of language increase. 

 We note the first appearance of a question, viz. : " Where's pussy ? 

 baby look up-'tairs. " 



The palatals, dental aspirates, and the peculiar English short a (as 

 in " hat ") are still imperfect, and r is represented by I. 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 good- 

 night, 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 

 " corned," for she uses this form for present and past indiscriminately, 

 which compels me to set a lower value on her appreciation of inflec- 

 tions), and gives the kiss after all. (At twenty-three and a half months, 

 however, she uses " made " correctly). I think she considers the thing 

 a joke, but not without a shade of fear that it may be taken seriously. 

 The last time, she completed the performance by saying " goody girl " 

 in a tone of extreme self-complacency. 



