Language related
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, …
3V0495.05 Foxy Coming around the corner of the butcher block, when I called her because of a splashing noise, Peggy hove into view carrying her toy fox. I asked her if she had been ” giving Foxy a drink” She dropped it in my lap and said “Fox.”
3V0495.04 “Who’s Peggy?” (She points to herself: [That]) (6/1/79) Later Peggy sat in my lap. Among other games, I asked her, “Who’s Peggy?” She replied by raising her right hand behind her ear, with her forefinger extended, and touched her head, saying “That” very definitely.
3V0494.02 [That’s a good girl] (5/31/79) I was working in the kitchen. Peggy went around to the stairs, rattled the gate (I don’t know if it was open or closed), then said quite slowly and distinctly “That’s a good gir-l” (making two syllables of the last word). Gretchen.
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 …
3V0491.02 [Mommom, mo] (05/28/79) Waving her milk cup at me, Peggy said, “Mommom, mo’.” (unclear if that last meant ‘more’ or ‘milk’)
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 …
3V0483.01 [That’s a pup] (5/20/79) Robby’s National Geographic World subscription brings other materials beside the magazine into the house. Beside the vixen and pup poster (and others) occasionally a small set of ‘cards’ arrives. one recent set was of various types of dogs. Peggy looked at one with two basset hounds. “What’s that?” I asked. …
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 …
3V0442.01 Verbal imitation of a “word to remember”: (4/9/79) Peggy’s verbal imitation is quite well developed. An everyday example. I sat in my chair with a cup of coffee on a high stool beside it. Peggy came along and started to shake the stool. “No, no, Peggy, don’t touch the stool!” “Stool,” Peggy said to …
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 …
3V0434.01 Non-standard use of name ‘bird’ (04/01/79) We have a “make-it/bake-it” cardinal hanging high on the dining room window. Peggy is much interested in it, and Gretchen often informs her that it is a bird. Peggy’s verbal imitations are pretty good. Sometimes sound turns out more like /b/\p/ or /b/\d/, but it’s quite easy to …
3V0432.01 First example of symbolic thought: “doll-up” for herself (3/30/79) Miriam has been making fantastic figures by cutting out paper. She displays them by taping them up below my mantle motto at the second story fireplace. Peggy caught sight of them and wanted to ‘see’ them. She indicates this by a high pitched noise of …
3V0426.01 Expression: verbal imitation (3/24/79) Peggy was very crabby this evening before dinner. At one point Robby got out some cheese and was sitting at the table with it. Peggy walked toward him, crying insistently. I told Robby to offer her a piece of cheese, and he did so. As she reached for it, Peggy …
3V0410.01 Activity –> social game; flexible roles and naming things (03/08/79) Jigging — Jumping up and down rapidly, i.e. bending at the knees while holding on to something, has been one of Peggy’s favorite actions since she became able to stand. She does that by herself at the couch. She jumps up and down in …
3V0403.01 “dog” used as a verbal label for Scurry (3/01/79) Peggy was downstairs in the kitchen with Gretchen. I sought a book from our shelves on the balcony of the living room. Peggy entered downstairs and crawled over to the sliding glass doors. (These are a window on the world at her level. For several …
Vn127.1 Moo Shu 3/19/78 There is an old joke of this simple script: Adult Do you know how to read Chinese? Child I don’t know. I’ve never tried. At lunch today I described to Miriam my lunch of yesterday at a Chinese restaurant — showing her then the take-out menu. As we looked at the …
Vn111.1 Swears 11/30/77 A few days ago I sat at a terminal with Miriam at the Children’s Learning Lab. In response to the “login” request, Miriam typed “FUCK” then turned to me and said, “Look, Daddy, I typed a swear.” I responded non-committally, “Oh yeah. Why don’t you hit new line and see if it …
Vn57.1 Desserts 8/3/77 When I was a small child, there was rarely dessert in my house. On special occasions my mother might make some rice pudding or tapioca (when cooked, the large size tapioca became transparent balls we children pretended were the eyes of frogs). When my children pester after every meal for dessert, I …
Vn51.1 Paper Ships 7/25/77 This has been a rainy, midsummer day with both children at home in an acoustically live house. Having slept ill last night, under pressure of the noise and our common confinement, I went to bed early. When the children failed to fall silent instantly, I “yelled” at them, i.e. I told …
Vn42.1 7/6/77 Because the High School Studies Program begins next week and the lab will be filled with teenagers all day every day, we moved into my office the equipment not to be used by the high school students: the slot machine, the floor turtle, and the music box. Since moving things around brings change …
Vn41.1 7/5-7/77 Whenever we ride to Logo in the MG, Miriam has a standing request that we follow Memorial Drive down past the underpass at Massachusetts Avenue. The children like the magnification of their voices provided when they shout in a closed place. Over the past several years, we have agreed that they may do …
3V0398.03 First introduction to pictures of herself. (3/01/79) Late February – Pictures and Names (a reconstruction) Carrying Peggy back from the balcony, when she pointed to some pictures and requested them, I turned Peggy to pictures of her hanging above the balcony entry. I was trying to distract her attention to pictures beyond her easy …
3V0398.02 Identifying toys and pictures of foxes; classification possible insight; (nominal date 2/28/79 added) Late February – Foxes: (a reconstruction) Before videotape session P57 (a day or two before) Gretchen sat with Peggy on the couch in the living room. Gretchen was ‘reading’ Baby Animals. Peggy pointed at the Fox on the cover and said …
3V0387.01 Peggy varying elements of a transient game; like phrases 2/13/79 Wooba wooba — Peggy hates to have her face washed or her nose wiped. But she does like to take things out of my shirt pockets. Her usual pocket-picking targets are pens or pipe stems. Today, with my having two shirt pockets, she discovered …
3V0385.01 Peggy’s nose; two element phrase from idiom variation 2/11/79 Peggy sat on my lap, and Miriam, feeling left out, demanded the same privilege. Gretchen has been naming face parts with Peggy for months and Peggy cooperates by reaching out to touch her nose when Gretchen asks, “Where’s my nose?” Miriam asked, “Peggy, where’s my …
3V0384.02 Usage extension; second person agent of imperative 2/10/79 Peggy and I have passed pipe stems back and forth for quite a while. Long ago we began the giving game. That is, when she offered a pipe stem (or some other object to me) I would take it, say “Thank you” and return it with …
3V0384.03 Salience of her name in her interpretations; vocative “dada” 2/10/79 Peggy will respond to a voice calling with an intonation like that used in calling her name. Evidence of her understanding names can be [of] other sorts. The rare example from P53 [Egg Peggy] is one strong sign that her own name is a …
3V0384.01 More verbal specificity; productive uses of signifiers 2/10/79 Returning from a three day trip to Boston, I have Peggy in my lap more than usual. At one point, she indicated she wanted Miriam’s belt which lay near by on the floor: /zIt//zIt/. I gave it to her. Peggy chewed it over, and because I …
3V0380.02 Prosodic features dominate sounds in meaning 2/6/79 Peggy’s name — At supper this [evening] Gretchen and I discussed with Robby what words Peggy knew. The question arose when Robby asserted that surely she knew her name. I argued that her response when I said “Peggy” was to the prosodic features and not to the …
3V0380.01 Need for specificity expands repertoire of signifiers 2/6/79 Peggy drives [us] to distraction. A few weeks ago when her talk was all /[th]aet/[th]aet/ and her pointing restricted to pictures, the talk was endurable, but now that it is coupled with specific objectives Gretchen and I are subject to streams of /[th]aet/ and /hae/[th]aet/ and …
3V0371.01 Three words: “I want that”. A well formed English sentence; progressive structuration 1/28/79 THREE WORDS — When Peggy has requested this or that, a common response has been the question “You want that?” If we see her smile when we are pointing to a specific object, we give it to her. Today at lunch, …
3V0366.01 Knowing What Peggy Wants 01/23/79 KNOWING WHAT PEGGY WANTS — Peggy says /∂aet/ and it’s clear she wants something, but it is not clear to us. She says /∂aet/ so much, we might suspect she doesn’t want any particular thing but merely enjoys pointing, talking, and being carried around. Such is not the case …
3V0361.01 Two words 01/18/79 TWO WORDS — Peggy has long joined /thaet/ with pointing to call another’s attention to some out-of-reach object. We usually interpret this to mean that she wants to either eat, touch, or mouth the object. Peggy likes to take things to herself — cookies or picture frames. The smaller ones we …
3V0357.02 Reading 1/14/79 READING — When I tired of pipe play and put them away, Peggy pointed to the book about puppies Miriam has given her. Peggy played contentedly for a minute or a few — then she gave the book to me. I thanked her, admired the book, and returned it to her. She …
3V0351.01 Comprehension limitations.01/08/79 COMPREHENSION LIMITATIONS — Right before New Year, Bob got the dishwasher repaired and reinstalled. Saturday [?] morning it was running for the first time in 10 days. Coming into the kitchen with Peggy, I listened to the sounds and murmured, “Hurray for the dishwasher.” Peggy immediately raised her hands to her head …
3V0344.01 Words (foot) 01/01/79 WORDS — I have been saying to Peggy “Where’s your foot?” and she will respond more or less quickly, holding up her foot, pointing, and saying “Da!” “Hand” generally brings out clapping. “Nose” pointing, or more often grabbing for my nose.
3V0335.01 Naming (Daddy’s nose grabbed – comprehension evidence) (12/23/78) NAMING — I lay in bed this morning during Peggy’s early morning feeding. When she had finished nursing, Gretchen put Peggy down between us. They played together for a while, talking about noses. Then Gretchen asked, “Where’s Daddy’s nose?” Peggy turned around and grabbed my nose. …
3V0331.01 Pointing and Naming. Comprehension evidence. 12/19 POINTING AND NAMING — Today I asked Peggy, “Where’s Peggy’s NOSE?” She brought her hand up to my nose [I don’t remember if she pointed; I think it was the whole hand] and very decisively said, “Da!” NOSE appeared to be the operative word.
3V0329.01 Pointing and imperative /dae/. Social rich interpretation. 12/17/78 POINTING AND NAMING — Over the last several days Peggy has been VERY cranky. She always wants to be picked up and makes this clear in two ways: she whines or cries; she crawls over and climbs up on your leg. New teeth are definitely coming …
3V0327.02 Helen Keller as archetype (12/15/78) Helen Keller situation as extreme exemplar of every infant’s plight.
3V0317.01 Temporal advancement of “thank you” to a command. 12/05 NO “THANK YOU” — Peggy’s use of the pattern has proved transient. She no longer says anything when given my pipe or a cookie or whatever. But the passing of the phrase was marked by an interesting transition shown in only a single incident: Peggy …
3V0309.03 Verbal imitation of “Thank you”: first addition of verbal communication to object based protocol. 11/27 THANK YOU — Peggy has been playing ‘giving’ with her pipe for several days with her grandmother. Edie would take the pipe from Peggy, pretend to puff, and return it with a “Thank you.” Yesterday, as she wheeled about …
3V0306.03 Pervasive Instruction. 11/24 PERVASIVE INSTRUCTION — Peggy’s maternal grandmother (Edie) has been visiting us for the week around Thanksgiving. Six months ago she played “Clap hands, here comes Charlie” with Peggy and is delighted that Peggy claps on command and gets others to clap by doing it herself. While she sat across the table …
3V0306.02 Giving dishtowels with vocal accompaniment: Hey Dad! “Hey Dad !” (or /hae//thaet/ ?) 11/24 HEY DAD! — Peggy has played giving games which started with my pipe and rapidly generalized to other objects. Some times [she] has come to me at the table in her walker and offered me whatever object was in her …
3V0297.01 Pointing at Bob: 11/15/78 Yesterday morning I was sitting on the end of the bed with Peggy on my lap. Bob was in his chair, behind and to my right. All three of us faced in the same direction. Peggy was babbling away and when she said /dae/dae/dae/, I asked her “Where’s Daddy? Where’s …
3V0294.01 The IMPURE POINT and progressive structuration: 11/12/78 As observed more generally by Bruner, this infant Peggy started “pointing” around 9 months of age. (confer P40 and P41, I don’t know if earlier tapes contain unremarked examples of earlier pointing). Since the appearance, we have watched Peggy’s pointing more closely off camera. She does point …
3V0278.02 Pipe play: giving as a communication protocol 10/27/78 PIPE PLAY — When sitting in my lap, Peggy frequently ends up with one of my old pipes. (I still carry them about in a shirt pocket and chew on the stem, though I no longer smoke.) These pipes of mine have become a favorite toy …