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 …
3V0535.01 Ant versus bug: preferred name for a shared referent (7/11/79) Today at the beach I surprised Peggy by a sudden leap — I had caught sight of a plant near my foot and thought at first it was a wasp. I explained that I thought I had seen a bug, but it was only …
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 …
3V0527.01 Spontaneous naming [shoe] (2 different examples) (7/3/79) This morning before breakfast Peggy was playing in our room. She picked up one of Bob’s moccasins and said, “Shoe.” Shortly thereafter she picked up one of his deck shoes and repeated, “Shoe.” Gretchen.
3V0524.01 Pragmatics and names [bring me the snuggle gruggle] (6/30/79) Peggy was playing with a large ball. At one point, when it was not in her possession and she had been distracted by something, I said to her, “Peggy, bring me the snuggle gruggle.” Without hesitation she went over to the ball, picked it up, …
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 …
3V0520.01 Naming with pointing at pictures; alternating car, dog (6/26/79) Miriam and Peggy were looking at a book by Richard Scary. Peggy pointed to a picture of a dog driving a car. Miriam said, “Car.” Peggy pointed again. “Car.” And again. “Car.” About the fourth or fifth repetition, Miriam was bored and tired of repetition. …
3V0518.01 Naming with pointing [car] (6/24/79) Driving in her car seat, Peggy named a car [ka] with pointing simultaneously. Gretchen.
3V0517.01 Feeding the dog [Scurry…he eaten’] spontaneous production (6/23/79) Food is one thing Scurry and Peggy have in common. Scurry follows Peg about picking up crumbs, claiming whatever falls and is neglected, and even receiving an occasional handout. Peggy, however, takes food from Scurry as well as gives it to her. Thus, it is no …
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 …
3V0513.01 Sentence completion (6/19/79) “Peggy, do you want to get…?” This question I addressed to her while she stood in her high chair. Peggy responded /dau/. No big surprise. The point is raising this question to salience. What minor changes of our speech patterns can we introduce that will permit us to better probe Peggy’s …
3V0509.01 Writing on a paper bag (6/15/79) Peggy was running around our bedroom with an open pen. I told her not to write on her clothes and suggested that she could draw on a paper bag that lay on the floor. Pointing to it, I said [something like] “You can use that paper bag there …
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 …
3V0423.01 Trying to stick a magnet to the butcher block (3/21/79) Peggy had a small magnet, from the varied collection that normally are holding things on the refrigerator door. She approached the smooth side of the butcher block and held up the magnet to the surface. It did not hold, of course. She picked it …
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 …
3V0498.01 In Boston for MIT graduation (6/04-5/79) This was our trip to Boston for Bob’s graduation from MIT. We all got up at 5 am, to drive to Boston by 9. Peggy was left at the child care service in McCormack Hall while the rest of us went to Killian Court. She behaved very well, …
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.
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 …
3V0495.01 Spills: Peggy mopping them up (6/1/79) Spills, of course, are common with Peggy. Today she got some milk on the floor. Somehow she got a towel (probably a regular cloth one from the refrigerator door handle) and mopped at the spills on the floor. We gave her a paper towel to work with. thereafter, …
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 …
3V0492.01 New Car Seat Opens up Peggy’s World (5/29/79) Ever since the children got some real bargains at a tag sale last summer, they have been followers of local tag sales. They take whatever cash they can scrape up and spend it all, giving away their loot in case they can not imagine a use …
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’)
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 …
3V0485.04 Action Imitation — Helpful Peggy (5/22/79) Last Thursday or Friday I was washing windows using the Ritz cloth then wiping down with an old linen dishtowel. Peggy noticed what I was doing, and while I was working on the sliding glass doors downstairs, she disappeared for a moment and returned with the dish towel …
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 …
3V0484.01 Observation Hiatus while thesis completed. (5/21/79) Completing my thesis on time for this semester’s graduation has been a primary disaster for the natural observations of Peggy’s development. I regret this lost material profoundly, and fear that it is from the period of development which would have been most illuminating about subsequent appearances of order …
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. …
3V0472.01 Doing “Headstands” (5/9/79) Once she started toddling about, Peggy began “headstands,” i.e. with her feet firmly planted wide apart, she brings her head and hands down to the floor and peers between her legs. Peggy has done this several times when I was nearby and, catching my eye, laughed gleefully as if this were …
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?” …
3V0454.01 Functional Classification: hairbrush, handkerchief; too far (4/21/79) It’s clear that Peggy knows what certain things are “for.” The first clear example was her use of a hairbrush. The second and most pervasive, was (and continues to be) her use of “handkerchiefs.” She and I have played much with hankies — they are the main …
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 …
3V0444.01 Playing with Scurry; tool, weapons, chimps, and Peggy (4/11/79) After Peggy became more skilled at toddling around, she and Scurry have delighted in chasing each other about the house. Scurry bounces up and down, changes direction running off, hides under the chairs and peers out. Peggy toddles about, chortling gleefully, sometimes chasing Scurry, sometimes …
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 …
3V0432.03 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 …