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martes, 3 de julio de 2012

What's new: much in terms of language acquisition

It's been three months since I last posted about this passion of mine: seeing how my beloved daughter acquires language. In these months I've been adding words to the list of words she regularly uses but I guess now it's time for me to stop. Just let me update it before I quit writing down words.
English: ball, chair, more, teeth, knee, fork (po), spoon (pun), egg, kiwi, avocado, pigtail (piteil), blue, giraffe, moon, bob pin, headband, colors, car, ants, hat, keys, iogurt (blu), pitcher, pepper, cookies, pants, pit, potty, cherry (xouxou), pocket, floor, girl, pinwheel, pasta, lid, plate, sandals, pool, raining, dancing, painting, red, bottle, tail, gloves, ladybug (vacala).
Catalan: pedra, sabó, taronja (nanana), foc, cuc, peix, llibre (bitlle), bé, galeta, do, sol, cotxe, pipi, caca, nens, això, aquest, arbre, fum, plat, cargol, nespre (eppe), bici, piscina, tro, bolquer, cua, pota, sorra (xolla).
And well, many others skip my mind right now.
The time has come when she gets several new words every day, so from now onwards I will try to keep trace of the new grammar rules she seems to be internalizing.

Well, my dear daughter, you are talkative... oh boy, are you!
At the beginning of May you added another preposition to your vocabulary: "off", and you've been asking to take off your clothes ever since (it was really warm over here). Now, you also use "on".  Prepositions are used in a different way in Catalan so up to now you prefer to use just English for that.
You have also been using "no" and "yes" -in the fashion of "nah" and "heep"- showing clearly that you mean them. The "no" is very clear. The "yes" sometimes seems to be a bit more random, but most of the time you mean it when you say it.
In terms of adjectives, you have a good command of the "cold" vs. "hot". My shoes are "big" and an old bunnet from last summer is "small". You say the dog we are babysitting is "content" when he moves his tail, and answer you are "bé" when asked if you are ok.
As regards adverbs: you seem to like bossing around and you give orders of the kind "teddy aquí (here)", "mama aquí"... An addition I specially like is "back" since it helps to keep things in order. You keep repeating "back" while putting things away. Well, unfortunately this doesn't always work when I ask you to help tidy up.
I don't know why but most of the verbs you use are in Catalan: nem (let's go), vine (come), punxa (prick), pesa (it is heavy). I guess "open" is one of the few exceptions.
You've changed the generic noun "aya" for the name of the girls that used to be called so: your aunt Iris and cousin Clara, and you also call your friends "Lila" and "Mariona". Some other names of people and relatives are: Pepe (uncle), abu (granpa), pille (grandad), yaya (both granmas), Bhabha (the dog), Carles (neighbor)...
Some words you've been using for many months have suffered some changes as of late. The cat -originally "pah" has got its name right "cat", contrarily, the teddy, word you pronounced correctly has become "teia", I don't know why.
One of the most amazing improvements is the use of plurals. Whenever there is more than one item, you add an "s" to the noun, hence expressing multiplicity. The funniest thing is that you make really sure the "s" sounds. When pronouncing "ants", for instance, no letter is left aside, they all sound.
We are delighted by how attentive to things you seem to be and how you express this by using language. As daddy pointed out the other day, you pay attention to size, temperature, weight, number, and taste.
I am very happy for you 'cause this command of language enables you to voice many things and reduces frustration a great deal.


2 comentarios:

  1. This stage is so exciting! I remember when I stopped writing down A's new words because there were just so many. All seems to continue at an explosive rate from there. It must be especially thrilling to watch two languages emerge simultaneously. I hope everything else is progressing well with the three of you!

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  2. At an explosive rate, you've said it!! Today I was in awe of the fact that M was asking me for "galetes" and then suddenly decided to switch to English and translate it to "cookies".
    We are all right. I trust you are fine. In my mind you are already four of you... I don't know if I am right¿?

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