East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1922-07-26
Beginnings in Language and Literature.
by Martha GaIIaudct Waring.

that ! began to plume myself upon IL
as u personal matter. 1t is interesting
to note that this note interest in Ian
guage, in words and their exact mean
ing and accurate use, has always been
d part of this child's development.
My personal vanity as a good train
er in language received a shock when
the second baby came to the speaking
age. Not word would she say, "t'h-
hum" doing duty for everything; and
so clever was she and well developed
mentally that it was almost uncanny
to see how she conveyed her entire
meaning and got what she wanted
without words. We tried encourage
ment, discipline, and example Gas her
sister was then five) and when we
had begun to feel quite disconceItcd.
she suddenly at about eighteen
months, burst into whole sentencesi
run together such as "Give it to me,
L don't want to do it" and others OF
which not one single word was clearly
defined but as whole perfectly in
telligiblc. As she grew older she
showed the same Impotence of Ian
Suage as means of communication, !
making a language of her own to
(which she clung until she was six, |.
which was intelligblc only to her fam
| lily and playmates, as strangers couIc |
make nothing Of it, fact which
| rather pleased her than otherwise /
NE don't min if dey tant understan' /.
wat me say; me likes to talk ike dis. q"
was u frequent remark while we were
trying to train her out of it. We had .
at six to have recourse TO expert help
IN proper articulation. There was no
physical defect, and now her enuncIa-
hon is unusually clear and she reads
better than any child of ten | have
over known.
why should such things be in chill
dren of the same family, with the
same environment? II is an interest
ing problem, The third child being n
boy, | have watched for his use of
language with great interest, and find
that at his present age of two, he has
a large and growing vocabulary ana
very clear cnunciation with slight
tendency to let go the IS" He does
not like his eldest sister at this age.
substitute st." or like a first cousin.
put an "h" everywhere. This little
.Erl when learning to talk was most
amusing on account of this propCn-
sity. Hum ana hcc the ho" and
Come aud see the show" and she
was often puzzle to her elders My
own girl of her age was always un-
dorstood and this is the dialogue
heard one day when they were hav-
iuE tca-p1Tty. alice, | huck
hork in hase and it he'll on tho hoor''
and then my own baby. "Oh YOU mean
YOU tuck a tork in your tac and It
fell on the toor!"
The best helps to good and early
use of language as far as my eNperl
ence goes, are first. no baby-taIk (
talked to the child, then all the nur-
sery rhymes that there are. told over J
and over again until they are known.
then all the best and simplest stories .
that have become baby classics. told Il
again and again in good language or T
IN the words Of the books; especially In
much repetition. NV two .
Ne1r-old is already laying the foun- In
dattou of good literary taste bv say e
ing the last word ON every line nf the n
nursery rhyme. with occasional de- n
ilshuul variation drawn from his +
own experience such as this one d
III l had pony that would not 20.
DO You think { would whip him. oh.
no, no. mo-, y
ld but him In the barn and give him O