The reason is to be
looked for in the still incomplete development of the sensori-motor
central paths. In place of _tatta_ is sounded _tae_ or _ata_; in place of
_papa_ even _tai_, and this not once only, but after a great many trials
repeated again and again with the utmost patience. That the sound-image
has been correctly apprehended is evident from the certainty with which
the child responds correctly in various cases by gestures to words of
similar sound unpronounceable by him. Thus, he points by mistake once
only to the mouth (Mund) instead of the moon (Mond), and points
correctly to the ear (Ohr) and the clock (Uhr) when asked where these
objects are. The acuteness of hearing indispensable for repeating the
sounds is therefore present before the ability to repeat.
On the whole, the infant or the young child already weaned must be
placed higher at this stage of his mental development than a very
intelligent animal, but not on account of his knowledge of language, for
the dog also understands very well single words in the speech of his
master, in addition to hunting-terms. He divines, from the master's
looks and gestures, the meaning of whole sentences, and, although he has
not been brought to the point of producing articulate sounds, yet much
superior in this respect is the performance of the cockatoo, which
learns all articulate sounds. A child who shows by looks and gestures
and actions that he understands single words, and who already pronounces
correctly many words by imitation without understanding them, does not
on this account stand higher intellectually than a sagaciously
calculating yet speechless elephant or an Arabian horse, but because he
already forms many more and far more complex concepts.
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