THE CHILD AND LANGUAGE.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-Dr. Truby King says that by the end of the second year a child " should put sentences together and begin to talk well." Colin is learning what Max Mfiller's successor, Professor Wright, used to call " Early English." But this process is, in his case, complicated by his parallel efforts to acquire " Early Sintebele:" In both cases he began with nouns—about six months ago—rapidly adding " enlarge- ments of the subject " (he was evidently embarking upon a truncated form of sentence !), first of all in the shape of adjectives. These, unlike his nouns, were and are all English, and are placed after the noun, as in an Army requisition. The addition of a genitive, by the simple process of tacking on another noun, followed—e.g., " Colin hat," " Mummy shoe." This was a great step. For now we had not merely a concrete noun with a concrete quality attaching to it, such as " 'orter hot," but two concrete nouns strung together, expressing an association of ideas. When this process had been thoroughly exploited there came abstract adjectives : " Picky nice," " Doggie naughty," and so forth.
The next stage was verbs. For some reason these are mostly, though not entirely, Sintebele. But the result is bi-lingualism indeed : " Spider hung" (bites), "Car buya " (comes) and " Gena I " (Come. in !)—always cheerily shouted, on hearing a knock at the bedroom door, irrespective of the feelings of his. stable-companion. Thus we have now arrived at sentences—at least in a skeletal form (subject and predicate). How soon will " extensions of the predicate," in the shape of objects. and also of adverbs, follow ? At present his verbs are mainly intransitive. When the object is added, a fresh dimensional idea will have dawned.
Though he cannot yet adjust English consonants, and calls " Kitty" " Ticky," his " Neddy " " Denny," and his nurse Alice " Asily" (somewhat as a Dorset woman will get stung by a " wapse " and will " axe " for what she wants), and though, native fashion, his " r " is " I " and he says " labbit " for " rabbit " (as the native says " Lakele " for " Rachel ") yet he has never had the slightest trouble with the three difficult Sintebele clicks—" c," " q" and " x." These clicks are so much the despair of the European not brought up to them from childhood that he or she frequently refuses the attempt to pronounce them.
His idea of number is at present limited to two. But he can unfailingly pick out a pair of anything. Native maids endeavour, in spite of reproof, to teach him to count. The result is a parrot-like repetition of number-names with, of course, no corresponding conception of number. He does not distinguish verbally between the forms of singular and plural, though he uses the word " forty," for sonic reason, to signify " a lot of." In Sintebele also he makes singular nouns do duty for their highly-inflected plurals—with the one exception of " muntu " (somebody) and " abantu " (people). The only pronoun that he has as yet discovered is naturally " me." But, as the Spectator lately remarked, it must be difficult for a savage (and, one supposes, for a child) to grasp adequately the pronoun of the second person, since what is " you " to you is " me " to me—an abstract and complicated piece of reasoning.
He has a little conception of colour, and knows red, blue and brown. When one of the native maids lately left, and in due course one of her uniforms (which happened to be much washed out) was worn by her successor, he would for some hours run after the newcomer, calling her by the name of the original wearer—which looks as if light and dark blue were more easily distinguishable by him than actual faces. Yet, at sixteen months, he so well understood pictures, that on being shown (without verbal explanation) a new book with .two small children pulling dresses out .of the bottom drawer in a. chest of drawers, he at once ran. to his mother's room, laboriously pulled out the bottom drawer, and strewed the contents on the floor—exactly as in the picture. And so intent was he upon the job that he failed to notice his interested family watching from the background.
A report was issued sonic while back upon the educational drawbacks of bi-lingualism, and was based upon evidence collected among schoolchildren in South Wales. But is it really such a drawback ? All children in the country districts in Rhodesia and in Natal, and many in India, are bi-lingual. Some, where unilingual, speak a native language first, and have to learn their mother-tongue later. Many children in the Union of South Africa speak Dutch, as well as English,. and Xosa, Sechuana or some other native language in addition. Presumably, many children in Mauritius, and in Canada also, are bi-lingual. Are such children really as much handicapped as this report decides ? (Unfortunately, I have lost. the reference to it, but I believe it appeared in August, 1922.: It was reported in full in the Times Educational Supplement about the date of its issue.) Are these children mentally behind the speakers of one language only ? The experience of parents would be interesting and helpful. It may well be that Colin is himself behindhand owing to the necessity (or at least the opportunity) for acquiring parallel sets of words for all ideas, as those ideas themselves are developed. But, surely, the mental grasp displayed, even in his small way, is not, for twenty-three months, less than that of his congeners at home, though it may be wider and not so intensive ?- I am, Sir, &c.„ C. E. FRIPP. Essex-yak, Southern Rhodesia.
Previous page
