Micro-Theory
3V0568.01 A Verbal Confusion: 08/13/79; During the videotape session P81, Robby read THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY to Peggy. At that time, or later in the evening, Peggy pointed to a picture of a lizard (on the page with no other animals). “Lizard,” I said. Peggy imitated my naming by saying /***/, possibly /***/. (This heard …
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” …
3V0550.01 [is a stairs] (7/26/79) Recently Peggy has been using the phrase “Is a X”. This use has been in a context we would interpret as declaring the identification of a thing. It may not mean that to Peggy. It may mean that and other things as well, as this observation suggests. I recently refinished …
3V0545.01 VERBAL LABELS: 07/21/79; Peggy frequently points to or touches things saying “that” with an intonation not signifying interrogation. I would say she uses the standard declarative intonation except that it might imply an intention — but that is precisely what we don’t know. Does she mean “Look at that” ? “I recognize that” ? …
3V0536.01 More words and situations: “Give this to dada” vs. “dada have that”; language role in microworld selection: role genetically prior to terminal specification though it recedes to discourse level feature (CENTRAL IDEA) (7/12/79) Miriam sat across the dining room table unable to bring me something I wanted (a magazine, perhaps). She directed Peggy, “Give …
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 …
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 …
3V0516.01 Naming cars; relation of teaching and exploration (6/22/79) Riding Back from graduation at MIT, Peggy frequently pointed at trucks passing in the opposite direction with her squeals of delight. We named them for [her] “truck,” “van.” We all over subsequent days continued this on local trips where the distinction was often made between trucks …
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, …
3V0495.03 Putting herself into things: hats and more (6/01/79) Peggy has played with Robby’s Boston Red Sox protective helmet. The children or I place it on her head when she brings it to us – and replace it when it falls off, as it always does. Peggy extracted a large colander from those low shelves, …
3V0495.02 Pretending; incorrect choice as a joke (6/01/79) Late in the afternoon I found myself waiting at home for two telephone calls while Gretchen took the cub scouts on a trip. Peggy played in my care and during the hour and more the following incidents occurred: Pretending: Peggy of pulls dishes and other utensils from …
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 …
3V0485.03 Napping and Symbolic Play (5/22/79) Napping — Sometimes when Peggy is playing in my lap, she will stop for a while and lay her head down on my chest. She keeps her eyes open. Peggy does this in other situations, not on people. For example, yesterday she was bouncing on Miriam’s bed (she stands …
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 …
3V0432.01 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
3V0384.01 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 …
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, …
3V0368.02 Putting on and putting in are distinguished (1/25/79) Relevance: These observations document that Peggy has now distinguished putting-on from putting-in. I believe further, that they trace Peggy’s experience through the events in which putting-on developed. The sequence is first, climbing, i.e. putting oneself on (at least getting on); drawing back from an object onto …