In her latest blog entry
(Letters from a broad...: Est-ce que it pokes?)
C.L. Hanson talks about her son's bringing of French grammar and phrases into English. One of her comments raises the question of how the language you speak influences the way you think. I've been wondering about this and the ease/difficulty of saying no and yes in various languages and whether this might influence the famous negativity of toddlers.
For example, one of a baby's first words (at least English speaking babies) is "Da," yes in Russian. Does this mean that when a baby babbles in Russian they are saying "yes yes yes yes..."? Would this have an effect on power struggles, or the way a parent interacts with a baby? Compared to Luke who is already learning "nnnnnnn" when he doesn't like something, a baby babbling "yes" would seem to put a positive spin on the whole situation.
Luke is also learning to shake his head "no!" at things---it is actually very difficult to nod your head "yes". I think he enjoys the sense of power it gives him to say no---either that, or he enjoys the reactions of those around him when he gestures no. Amanda in particular will always answer his head shaking by nodding and saying "yes yes yes yes!" They nod and shake until both of them are giggling.
The word "yes" is very hard to say, as well. Around here it is practically a 2 syllable word, with 2 hard sounds (y and s). If it were easier to say, would a 2 year old employ it more often than "no"?
Right now, listening to Eleanor and Amanda try to learn English (we have talked about teaching them french but frankly, neither Michael or I have the skills) I am amazed that anyone ever learns to talk. Amanda is experimenting with prepositions, which seem to be almost randomly applied. I can only remember a few of her constructions "Buckle me out! Put the clothes off! Take these blankets on me." I understand what she is trying to say in every case, but I also have learned somehow, without being explicitly taught, that we don't say those things in English.
The girls are also having trouble with irregular verbs. "I runned to the door." Or even, "I runnded to the door." After a while listening to them, I find myself not trusting my own knowledge of verb formation. This is one of the reasons that parents need to have conversations with other adults once in a while. I choose to believe that the reason the girls are having trouble with these is that they have learned the rules so thoroughly and are applying them, and so their mistakes show how smart they are =)
My favorite language logic has to do with the cereal "Kix". If Amanda has a bowl of Kix, and offers one to Luke, she says "Have a Kick." Makes sense to me, and it's almost always clear that she doesn't intend to use her foot.
(Letters from a broad...: Est-ce que it pokes?)
C.L. Hanson talks about her son's bringing of French grammar and phrases into English. One of her comments raises the question of how the language you speak influences the way you think. I've been wondering about this and the ease/difficulty of saying no and yes in various languages and whether this might influence the famous negativity of toddlers.
For example, one of a baby's first words (at least English speaking babies) is "Da," yes in Russian. Does this mean that when a baby babbles in Russian they are saying "yes yes yes yes..."? Would this have an effect on power struggles, or the way a parent interacts with a baby? Compared to Luke who is already learning "nnnnnnn" when he doesn't like something, a baby babbling "yes" would seem to put a positive spin on the whole situation.
Luke is also learning to shake his head "no!" at things---it is actually very difficult to nod your head "yes". I think he enjoys the sense of power it gives him to say no---either that, or he enjoys the reactions of those around him when he gestures no. Amanda in particular will always answer his head shaking by nodding and saying "yes yes yes yes!" They nod and shake until both of them are giggling.
The word "yes" is very hard to say, as well. Around here it is practically a 2 syllable word, with 2 hard sounds (y and s). If it were easier to say, would a 2 year old employ it more often than "no"?
Right now, listening to Eleanor and Amanda try to learn English (we have talked about teaching them french but frankly, neither Michael or I have the skills) I am amazed that anyone ever learns to talk. Amanda is experimenting with prepositions, which seem to be almost randomly applied. I can only remember a few of her constructions "Buckle me out! Put the clothes off! Take these blankets on me." I understand what she is trying to say in every case, but I also have learned somehow, without being explicitly taught, that we don't say those things in English.
The girls are also having trouble with irregular verbs. "I runned to the door." Or even, "I runnded to the door." After a while listening to them, I find myself not trusting my own knowledge of verb formation. This is one of the reasons that parents need to have conversations with other adults once in a while. I choose to believe that the reason the girls are having trouble with these is that they have learned the rules so thoroughly and are applying them, and so their mistakes show how smart they are =)
My favorite language logic has to do with the cereal "Kix". If Amanda has a bowl of Kix, and offers one to Luke, she says "Have a Kick." Makes sense to me, and it's almost always clear that she doesn't intend to use her foot.
Comments
My kids try to regularize irregular words too. :D
Language is fascinating, especially watching kids learn it.
It is kind of interesting to wonder how they became irregular. I think it's that the grammar rules shift -- and the less common words get regularized by each successive generation of kids -- but the most common words retain archaic forms. Steven Pinker has a really interesting book on irregular forms in language and how they work (sadly I can't remember the title...).
There is a pdf of his lecture that agrees with exactly what you are saying about regularization: the most common english verbs are irregular, the least common are regular, presumably because a whole generation of kids has grown up without memorizing the irregular forms (my paraphrase of his text).
My biggest problem is that at the end of a day of talking to my kids, I find myself being unsure of what the proper form is. Perhaps I should just relax and take it as part of the evolution of language.