On the forty-third day he heard the
first consonant, which was _m_, and also the vowel _o_. Next day
the child said _ta hu_, on the forty-sixth day _goe oeroe_, and on the
fifty-first _arra_ All the vowel sounds were acquired in the fifth
month. We have no space to go further into the successive dates at which
the remaining consonants were acquired. In the eleventh month the child
first _learnt_ to articulate a certain word (_ada_) by imitation, and
afterward repeated the taught word spontaneously. The first year passed
without any other indication of a connection between articulation and
ideation than was supplied by the child using a string of different
syllables (and not merely a repetition of the same one) on perceiving a
rapid movement, as any one hurriedly leaving the room, etc.; but this
child nevertheless understood certain words (such as "handchen geben")
when only fifty-two weeks old. Inefficient attempts at imitative
speaking precede the accurate attempts, and at fourteen months this
inefficiency was still very apparent, being in marked contrast with the
precision whereby it would imitate syllables which it could already
say; the _will_ to imitate all syllables was present, though not the
_ability_.
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