In the thirteenth month the boy
used gestures to explain his wishes; for instance, he picked up a bit
of paper and gave it to his father, pointing to the fire, as he had
often seen and liked to see paper burned. At exactly the age of a year
he called food _mum_, which also signified "Give me food," and he used
this word instead of beginning to cry as formerly. This word with
affixes signified particular things to eat; thus _shu-mum_ signified
sugar, and a little later licorice was called _black-shu-mum_. When
asking for food by the word _mum_ he gave to it a very strongly marked
tone of longing (Darwin says an "interrogatory sound," which should mean
the same thing). It is remarkable that my child also, and in the tenth
week for the first time, said _moemm_ when he was hungry, and that a
child observed by Fritz Schultze (Dresden) said _maem-maem_. Probably the
syllable has its origin from the primitive syllable _ma_ and from
hearing the word "mamma" when placed at the breast of the mother.
Of the facts communicated by the physiologist Vierordt concerning the
language of the child ("Deutsche Revue" of January, 1879, Berlin, pp.
29-46) should be mentioned this, that a babe in its second month
expressed pleasure by the vowel _a_, the opposite feeling by _ae_. This
is true of many other children also. In the third and fourth months the
following syllables were recognizable: _mam_, _aemma_, _fu_, _pfu_,
_ess_, _aeng_, _angka_, _acha_, _erra_, _hab_.
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