As this statement is at variance with almost universal opinion,
we think it is desirable to furnish the following corroboration. The
present writer has notes of a child which possessed a vocabulary of
only a dozen words or so. The only properly English words were "poor,"
"dirty," and "cook," and of these the two adjectives, no less than the
noun-substantive, were always appropriately used. The remaining words
were nursery words, and of these "ta-ta" was used as a verb meaning to
go, to go out, to go away, etc., inclusive of all possible moods and
tenses. Thus, for instance, on one occasion, when the child was wheeling
about her doll in her own perambulator, the writer stole away the doll
without her perceiving the theft. When she thought that the doll had had
a sufficiently long ride, she walked round the perambulator to take
it out. Not finding the doll where she had left it she was greatly
perplexed, and then began to say many times "poor Na-na, poor Na-na,"
"Na-na ta-ta, Na-na ta-ta;" this clearly meant--poor Na-na has
disappeared. And many other examples might be given of this child
similarly using her small stock of adjectives and verbs correctly.
According to Preyer, from the first week to the fifth month the only
vowel sounds used are _ue_ and _a_.
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