Milford chronicle., 1922-08-04
BEGINNINGS IN LANGUAGE AND
LITERATURE
BY Martha GalIaudet Waring

! DEUlNNlNOS In LANUDAUE AND
LITERATURE
BY Martha GalIaudet Waring
The three most wonderful things in
nature have always been to me, the
unfolding of a flower, the dawn of a
new day, and the way in which a child
learns the use of language. There
are never two of these exactly alike;
they are always happening and always
different.
have watched three children close
ly and their way of learning to talk
has been absolutely as individual as
are the children themselves. The
eldest began at nine months to say
Mama, Dada, man, boy, dog and so
forth, and after awhile, come, go, stay,
run, and all the necessary verbs, and
| then the connecting words, in such
absolute agreement with the best au-
| thOrities on learning to speak," that
l began to plume myself upon it as
a personal matter. 1t is interesting to
note that this interest in language, in
words and their exact meaning and
accurate use, has always been a 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 speak
| ing age. Not a word would she say,
"Uh-hum" doing duty for everything;
and so clever was she and well devel-
oped mentally that it was almost I'M
canny to see how she conveyed her
entire meaning and got what she
wanted without words. We tried en-
couragement, discipline, and example
(as her sister was then five) and
when we had begun to feel quite dis
concerted, she suddenly at about eigh-
teen months, burst into whole SEN
tences run together such as "GiVe 1t
to me-" 'I don't want to do it, and
others of which not one single word
was clearly defined, but as a whole
perfectly Ineligible. AS she grew
older she shove dthe same impatience
of language as a means of cOmmun-
ication. making a language of her
own to which she clung until she was
six. which was ineligible only to
her family and playmates, as strang-
ers could make nothing of it, fact
which rather pleased her than other
wise-"Me don't min if dey tant un-
derstan' wat me say; me likes to talk
ike dis" was a frequent remark while
we were trying to train her out of it.
We had at six to have recourse to eX-
pert help in proper articulation.
There was no physical defect, and
now her enunciation is unusually
clear and she reads better than any
child of ten 1 have ever known.
Why should such things be in chill
dren of the same family, with the
same training and the same environ
ment? 1t is an interesting problem.
The third child being a boy, 1 have
watched for his use of language with
great interest, and find that at his
present age of two, he has large
and growing vocabulary and very
clear enunciatiOn with slight ten
dency to let go the IS" He does not,
like his eldest sister at this age, sub
stitute "t," or like a first cousin, put
an 'h" everywhere. This little girl
when learning to talk was most anus
ing on account of this propensity
Hum and hee the no" was Come and
see the show" and she was often
puzzle to her elders. My own girl OF
her age was always understood and
this is the dialogue 1 heard one day
when they were having tea-party.
"Alice, 1 huck a hork in hase and 1t
hell on the hoor" and then from my
own baby, "Oh, you mean you tuck
tork in your tace and it tell on the
toOr!"
The best helps to a good and early
use of language as far as my expert
ence goes, are first, no baby-talk
talked to the child, then all the nur-
sery rhymes that there are, told over
and over again until they are known;
then all the best and simplest stories
that have become Baby classics, told
again and again in good language or
in the words of the books; especially
much repetition. My two
year-old is already laying the founda-
ton of good literary taste by saying
the last word on every line of the
nursery rhyme, with occasional de-
lightful variation drawn from his own
experience such as this one
eff 1 had a pony that would not go,
Do YOU think 1 would whip him, Oh,
no, no, no!
I'd put him in the barn and give him
some tea
And treat hi mkindly the rest of the
-milk!"
No child should lose the delight OF
this first flight into the realms OF
fancy. Not to know ''When 1 was
Bachelor" and "The Old Woman of
the Shoe"-not to sympathize with
"Dapple Gray" and Simple Simon
not to enjoy all the hosts of nursery
friends of birds, beast and very hu-
man beings,-why, child has not be-
gun life without them! Nothing can
make up for this early loss. Besides
everything else, these fright begin
nings" give a right use of words, en-
large the vocabulary and make the
foundation that will stand the child
in good stead all the days of his life!
'Let us add to the sum of human
happiness, reduce crime, poverty,
and misery, and enhance the we'll