Evaluation
3V0603.01 [cup…mama]: word catenation used to express an instantaneous relation that later becomes syntactically expressed. 9/17/79 Peggy sat in my lap while I sipped at my morning coffee. She has lately been naming the containers from which I drink things, e.g. /kaen/ for a beer can and /kuhp/ for such a one as she pointed …
3V0597.02 Gotcha: a game – shows fluidity of actions and control over them at the complete and partial changes of rules (see also P.85) Peggy has long played a game with me where she would come between my knees and I would give her a gentle squeeze, saying “gotcha”. Her control of the game was …
3V0597.01 [sharp]: diaper pins This morning as I was changing her diaper, Peggy handed me a diaper pin with the observation [sha] (sharp). She has often been told about pins, but not recently.
3V0594.04 [mommy, get door]: vocative action sentence. 9/8/79 Running the dishwasher. The last thing to go in was Peggy’s cup. she called after it [cup, cup, cup…]. Then she scrabbled at the closed door of the machine, finally turning to me and saying “Mommy” (not momma) “get door.”
3V0594.03 /cul’/dae/gen’/: elaboration of verbal portion of script for exploration beyond simple pragmatic requirements. 9/8/79 Peggy enjoys playing with Scurry in different ways, but most of them share the element of her getting Scurry to move where she wants her. The usual form involves tugging the dog’s tail or ear. Tonight, Peggy found Scurry with …
3V0594.02 ONE, TWO: [one, two]: note on standardization of Peggy’s counting 09/08/79; You can’t avoid counting, and it’s hard to avoid instructing those who don’t know what you know — but we’ve been trying to avoid instructing Peggy. The children are persistent, at odd moments that we can’t witness. So Peggy’s idiosyncratic counting [one, one, …
3V0594.01 /wae/thaet/: issues: discussion of what a word is. 9/8/79 Peggy has enjoyed playing with my belt as a baby but has not done so for quite a while. Today, she sat in my lap and, pointing at my belt buckle, said, “/wae/thaet/?” I told her it was a belt buckle, which answer seemed to …
3V0593.01 [maemae take bath]: CENTRAL NOTE: first complex follow up to /cul’/du/vae/vae’/ 9/7/79 This morning, as Peggy and I played on the bed, Gretchen asked if I were going to take a bath, and we agreed she should do so first. Peggy played with her bear, picked up a book, called out “Mama !” and …
3V0588.02 [some…/bae/bae/]: appearance of modified noun, but no clear evidence that “some” is used adjectively. As Peggy has recently pleaded [one… one… one…] when asking for a cookie or a piece of cheese, an apple, or whatever. Our frequent response has been “Do you want some cheese ?” etc. Thus the word “some” has begun …
3V0588.01 [mine…box]: “sentences” with pauses; precursors to standard structures. 9/2/79 Playing in the living room, Peggy recognized a large card board box in which I kept blocks et alia for our experiments. Robby has just picked up all the junk left scattered about by Peggy the day before. She struggled to pull the box off …
3V0587.01 /cul’/du/vae/vae’/: CENTRAL INCIDENT;major insight ascribed on basis of incident. 9/1/79 Over the past several weeks, our house has suffered a greater than usual density and flux of Tintin cartoon books. As do the older kids, Peggy enjoys them. She brings a magazine, says /aen//aen/ and convinces one to hold her in his lap while …
3V0586.03 [doos, doos] = juice 8/31/79 Miriam was in the kitchen, fooling around with the refrigerator. As she began closing it, Peggy ran in from the living room crying [doos…doos]. It took me a moment to realize what she meant; then I called after her, “Juice ? Do you want some juice, Peggy ?” She …
3V0585.01 TWO : [two]: counting puddles; spontaneous use: 08/30/79; The kids and I went down to Bishops “Pick your own” raspberries. While the older two picked, Peggy and I walked up and down the dirt road to one side of the bushes. It had rained recently, and there were puddles. Peggy and I pointed them …
3V0581.01 On: [on]: three different applications of “on” similar to concurrent discriminating uses of [up].: 8/26/79; This morning Peggy clambered into my bed where I waked from a nap. She sat beside me, pointing with her right hand at her left upper arm. She said /”on”/ at least four times in succession. I was much …
3V0581.01 Increased Specificity: 8/26/79; By now it is clear that Peggy is trying to communicate (orally) on a wider scale. “Dat, dat, dat” lacked any specificity and soon outran its usefulness. She then developed a remarkable range by merely varying the pitch on a neutral syllable [***], repeated several times. Now she seems to be …
3V0579.02 Door shut on foot : 08/24/79; Yesterday Peggy, Miriam, and I drove downtown. We stopped at Gordy’s and I left the two of them in the car. When I returned, Peggy was crying lustily and Miriam explained that she (Miriam) had opened the door and closed it again on Peg’s foot. Today I said …
3V0579.01 “On, on on” : 08/24/79; Later the next day, while Gretchen rubbed some lotion on herself after a bath, Peggy, sitting on the bed, pointed repeatedly at her own thighs and said repeatedly “on, on, on.” (The tone and gesture made this imperious rather than declarative.)
3V0578.02 “On” : 08/23/79; Peggy [sat] on the bed today, playing with her feet. Examining the soles at one point, she caught my eye and pointing to the considerable patina of dirt (she goes barefoot), said very precisely “on” as she touched the sole.
3V0578.01 Up: [up] different use; spontaneous on sitting up: 08/23/79; Playing with me on my bed, Peggy, after lying on her back at one point, rose with her normal difficulty to sitting and said to herself, “Up.” 08/27 — Playing with a matchbox racer, Peggy pushed the little car along the floor, up the vertical …
3V0575.01 “Duff”: 08/20/79; Peggy has been imitating words we speak (usually the last one of an utterance) for quite some time. If I note anything special about this imitation now, it is its becoming so pervasive as to be the norm in her response now. When offered some cake this evening, Peggy responded /***/ to …
3V0574.02 “One” : 08/19/79; Peggy has begun using the sound “one” to indicate that she wants some particular thing. The use may have come from my giving her one cookie for one hand and one cookie for the other (cf. VT P82 for her counting 3 bean bags as one…one…SZBTFG[?]). Today, requesting a cookie, she …
3V0573.02 Enriched Phrases : 08/18/79; Peggy has long said [have that] meaning either [(you) have that] or [(I want to) have that] as the pragmatic context makes sufficiently clear. In a typical scenario today, Peggy was unnecessarily specific in her utterance, thus. Peggy frequently plunks some object (a book or toy) in one’s lap, says …
3V0573.01 See and That: 08/18/79; Scurry looms large in Peggy’s life, and it should be no surprise that she was much delighted to find among our other books one on “Caring for Your Scotch Terrier.” After bringing the book to me, Peggy turned pages and pointed. [That…that…see]. In this usage, I see prefigured a functional …
3V0569.01 Gone : 08/14/79; Peggy has been using the word ‘gone’ since the VT of August 6. By it she means finished, empty, nothing left. Today I helped her get the last of a container of yogurt. Then I put the cap back on, preparatory to throwing it out. Peggy watched and remarked, “Gone?”
3V0559.01 “Daddy Hug Peggy” : 08/04/79; Comforting the baby, it was our custom to hold her close and pat her gently on the back. Amusingly, when she was so comforted, even though crying, Peggy would return this gentle patting on the back. Recently, she has begun responding to my statement or question “Daddy hug Peggy” …
3V0555.01 [Car, car, go, go]: (07/31/79) I was taking Peggy and Scurry for a walk. I carried Peggy out to the garage and seated her in the stroller. Peggy waved her hand around and cried, “Ca’, ca’, go ca’,” indicating she wanted to go for a ride. She has often said “Ca’” under those circumstances, …
3V0541.03 [right!] Comprehension issue (7/17/79) Peggy and I had a fight today. I was charging about the house, all concerned with th beam-raising project or its clean up. Peggy was toddling about with the yardstick, probably looking to chase Scurry with it. We collided. The yardstick and my left shin. Peggy was knocked [over]. I …
3V0534.01 Words and situations: trash can-words, like things seen can be unconsidered (cf. notes # for problem solving analogy) (7/10/79) A little exploration following Chomsky’s advice that you can probe language understanding (only) by examining the interpretation of nonsense — Gretchen’s “snuggle gruggle” shows how easy it is to over interpret language understanding on the …
3V0531.01 COUNTING: beginning of notes. Cookies, hands, and counting (7/7/79) During interviews at IBM, Moshe Zloof raised the question of whether or not, in effect, counting is innate. I told him the question was a big one about which I felt no one could speak with authority but that I had very strong prejudices. As …
3V0528.01 Naming [shoe]#3. Silly instruction? “Right, that’s a shoe and you put it on your head” [foot]…[but = clasp] (7/4/79) This morning Peggy played in the bedroom as I sat in my chair. Peggy picked up one of Gretchen’s white sandals and said [shoe]. Gretchen asked if I heard. I said so and then to …
3V0522.01 Tirades disappeared; “comments” instead (6/28/79) What happened to the ‘tirades’ and recording of them? The attempt at recording failed because they dropped out of Peggy’s behavior — rather, they took a reduced form which is more appropriate to call “comments.” The characteristic of a comment is its length — typically two or three sentences …
3V0516.02 Concrete pipe: putting in (6/22/79) Peggy often rides with Miriam and me down to the Cox school to pick up Robby after soccer practice. Beside the soccer field is a play area for the older children.. One object is an 8 foot long concrete pipe of 4 foot diameter. Peggy was obvious(ly) fascinated by …
3V0508.01 Over the head: what it means to Peggy (6/14/79) Putting cloth objects especially (but others as well) over the top of the head and down about her neck has become one of Peggy’s favorite activities. This leapt to prominence in our eyes with her wandering from the living room into the kitchen with a …
3V0503.01 [Who have that?] role of pragmatics; example for analysis (6/9/79) Miriam, sitting at the table, had left a pair of shoes across the kitchen despite my asking her to pick them up. When I called them to her attention and we talked about the shoes, Peggy picked up one and carried it over to …
3V0502.03 TIRADES; issue: forming technical terms for phenomena appearing in observations (6/8/79) Tirades — I am introducing this word as a technical term in the sense in which it appears in French and Italian drama. The tirade is a long speech or declamatory passage by a single actor directed to an audience but not to …
3V0502.02 Pure verbal interpretation overwhelms context: 6/08/79 Pick up Foxy The older children have a bad habit (likely picked up from me) of dropping wherever they are whatever they have no further need of. when I try to get them to pick up after themselves they complain “I didn’t have that” or “Shouldn’t (the other …
3V0502.01 Trash can: comprehension and generalization Peggy comes to pick at the contents of my writing table whenever she is in my bedroom. (Just now she took a box of chalk and complained vociferously when I retrieved it from her). Today she found the cap of a beer bottle and picked it up. I asked …
3V0497.01 Comprehends [Daddy have the brush]; she gets it (6/3/79) Peggy comes in the bathroom whenever I take a bath. She likes me to wind up a little plastic duck and let it paddle about in the water. Today after watching the duck, she picked up a hair brush from the side of the tub, …
3V0494.01 Speech as intensifier of interactions; interrelations of idioms, names, prosodics (5/31/79) HOW’S THAT? (cf. toe grabbing, 5/22) — Peggy continues to grab my foot and shake it when I prop one leg up over the other. She laughs delightedly whenever I cry out in surprise and mock distress /ah ah/. Sometimes I don’t respond …
3V0493.01 Fragmentary sound knowledge contrast to prosodics (5/30/79) Diaper = /dai/ — Peggy needed changing this morning — so I believed — and Gretchen upstairs agreed to do it. Peggy was complaining loudly, toddling around and smacking her plastic pants. To make certain, I asked, “What do you want, Peggy?” She replied [die] (/dai/) and …
3V0491.01 Peggy hiding by closing her eyes; no sense of how others see her (5/28/79) Peggy likes to hide and play chase. The way she hides is reminiscent of playing peek-a-book [sic]. She will run to the corner of a wall and its perpendicular projection and put her head in the corner. When I cry …
3V0485.02 Game-agent flexibility precursor to language (5/22/79) Toe grabbing — We grownups tickle Peggy (so do the older children) and she enjoys it. She has begun to try tickling us in return. Her attempts are good imitations although not very effective. (She holds her hand over a patch of skin and scratches [with] all her …
3V0485.01 Action initiation; observations of symbolic ‘up’ from discussions with Mimi Sinclair (5/22/79) I discussed Peggy’s development with Mimi Sinclair and we reviewed a video tape or two. She encouraged me to continue with the study till Peggy is at least two years old. We discussed several topics. Peggy and shoes — Peggy has no …
3V0465.01 “Have Peggy”: adults adjust speech to her understanding (5/early/79) Peggy has wanted to be picked up a lot lately. Her way of indicating this is very annoying — she typically comes to where Gretchen is, grabs Gretchen’s pants leg, and wails. Could we get her to say ‘Up’? No. Gretchen began saying “Have Peggy?” …
3V0453.01 A question: [What that is ?] interior dialogue: (4/20/79) Peggy toddles around the bedroom-study while Gretchen and I work on the thesis. Today, she sat by the fireplace in a pile of dried leaves and wood chips, she spoke to herself [what that is ?] as she patted a “dust mop” then gave her …
3V0440.01 A declarative sentence (04/07/79) Scurry looms large in Peggy’s world. She knows her name is Scurry; she thinks of the fox pictures as dog pictures (especially note the videotape where she first makes that identification). Today Gretchen asked me, “Bob, did you hear that?” (I hadn’t.) “Peggy said, ‘That’s Scurry.’” I remarked that it …
3V0432.03 Problem solving: bad bugs; insensitivity to the “obvious” (3/30/79) Problem solving: bad bugs; insensitivity to the “obvious” (3/30/79) | One of those many times she has sat in my lap, Peggy began trying to uncap pens. (She has seen me put the cap on firmly many times, so that when she put them in …
3V0432.02 Foxy Robin Hood: classification. (3/30/79) Peggy has been playing much of late with Miriam’s stuffed toy fox, called “Foxy.” Peggy carries the toy about by the ear, pets it as she tries to do with Scurry. (Has she compared it yet to our pictures in the living room ? I’m not certain.) Yesterday Peggy …
3V0417.01 Putting-in with no pockets! insensitive to the “obvious” (3/15/79) After many games of “wooba wooba”, pockets still confuse Peggy. Equally, they interest her. When my shirt pockets have the flaps tucked in, she can occasionally get enough of a hanky in for it to stay in place. Similarly, she succeeds more or less well …
3V0415.01 Functional classification: two examples, one in error (3/13/79) Peggy has begun to classify objects by what she knows their use to be. Some examples are equivocal, though I remain convinced of their interpretation. For example, Peggy has been “brushing” her hair. This could be from having her hair brushed, from seeing Miriam brush her …