Word
As I've mentioned before, watching the boy learn the language and pick up new words has been one of my favorite parts of parenthood so far (behind only the tax break and the fact that he gives me an excuse to take a lot of pictures). By my count, he's picking up a new word about every 10 minutes, which makes for a pretty fun time in between the screaming fits.
For a while, we were keeping track of all the new words he used. Before long, we realized that there was no way we could keep up with him unless we each had BlackBerry devices on our sides at all times so that we could enter new words into a shared "new word" database stored on the Phillips family server. How else would we avoid duplicates? What other options do we have, pen and paper? Why don't we sell our house and live in a cave?
Anyway, there has been much conversation about what actually is a "word." It's very clear cut when he says things correctly, like "stairs" or "peacock" or something. Likewise, I don't count it when he says something like "boogeyboo" for "shoe" or something (which he never ever did, as I would not permit him to say "boogeyboo" around the house). But what if what he says rhymes, or is pretty close? Something like "damas" for "pajamas," for instance? Or what if he mispronounces a word just because he can't yet say a sound? He can't make "L" or "F" sounds, so when he tries to say "elephants," it sounds like "AAAH-nuss" (NOT pronounced like "anus," Becky) or "ehnuss." Grandma is "gumma." Milk is "mick." He can identify an elephant or his grandmas or milk every single time, but the words aren't said properly. What counts and what doesn't?
Internet, please chime in.
Comments
Jackie O said:
Well, my brother and I had this talk recently. Our sister counts every SOUND her kid makes as a new "word". We are a little more strict with our criteria. Our kids are both about 1.5 yrs old. We say that if a word is meant to be a specific word and sounds close, then it counts. Like for instance, my daughter says "PreeSH" when she means "please". So I count it as saying please. But, to oppose that, she also says "mia mia" when she means "milk". I don't count that as her saying a word. We are on the fence about them "naming" things and counting it as a word. She calls a blanket a "baba". She says it everytime, no matter what the blanket looks like. But she isn't trying to say "blanket" so I put it in her maybe list :)
Becky
said:
i couldn't say words with "rl" in them (world, girl, whirl, squirrel). i still have trouble with this. don't make fun. it's hard.
i think it would be in your best interests to teach the boy the difference between elephants and anuses before an embarrassing situation arises.
Syar said:
AHH-nuss?
as in urr-AHH-nuss?
he may still be working on vocabulary, but his astronomy knowledge is spetacular!
I said:
SIGH
I had to make some Becky-induced changes to the post. Hey Becky! Check out that SQUIRREL!
elizabeth-w said:
I think if a child uses the same utterance time and again for the same thing, and you know what it means, it's a word. The point of language is to communicate meaning, concepts, etc. There are sounds kids don't learn how to make for some time, or that their ears can't distinguish one sound for another. If your little guy can say peacock, and can distinguish a peacock from a chicken or a dog, you are doing a great job in teaching him about language!
wendela said:
Your son may be the only kid in his pre-school class who knows about haboobs.
I always counted most things they said as words. The oldest had some creative words - "moke" for milk, "pow moke" (powder in the milk) for Ovaltine, "okimoke" (oats in milk? I have no idea) for oatmeal.
Younger one had a distinct series of facial expressions and grunts, because her slightly older sister anticipated and granted her every wish. Finally, I convinced the older to keep telling her, "Use your words!" or she wouldn't get what she wanted/needed. That worked pretty well.
Anyway, the older one named her left and right shoes different names. Later, when a bit older and able to explain better, she said just calling them "the right shoe" or "the left shoe" wasn't good- so one was "GoBeGo" (don't remember the other's name). So if he did say "boogeyboo" for shoe, that may be okay! Don't freak- he probably won't go to preschool calling his shoes "names". It's part of starting out and exploring language. Given some acceptance and freedom, your son will come up with loads of great words. Go with it.
Becky
said:
man, you suck. though i am pleased that i have the power to make you revise your posts.
don't make fun of me just because it takes a concerted effort on my part to NOT say "skrool" instead of "squirrel." it makes me that much cuter.
cadiz12 said:
i say if the kid is using the word for a specific thing, it counts. treasure the creative subsitutes; my friend was very sad the day her kid stopped calling the elevator the 'alligator.'
I said:
I tend to be pretty strict with what I'll count as a word. It does have to sound close to a real word, and he has to say it more than one time ON HIS OWN (as in, not repeating it just because someone else said it).
We have already lost a few creative substitutes, and it is sad. For several months, he would say "GUCK" when trying to say "yuck." Guck became a real word around the house, and I still use it even though he now can say "yuck" properly. That, and for some reason, he used to say "bicah" for "cup." Not even close, really. But it was endearing.
cadiz12 said:
my brother's first word was 'Mun-na.' it took about three months before i figured out he was talking about his pacifier. i have no idea where he came up with that one.
Lia said:
I'm with everyone else who says that if it's clear he knows what he's talking about, and he's consistent about it, even if it's not a recognizable language, it's a word. Just because you didn't teach him pig-Latin doesn't make it less valid.
Jon said:
Since we’re dealing with English here, it gets pretty tricky. English is not a dead language, therefore, he could be adding to it without our knowledge. We already know that he can reprogram your phone, so there’s no telling just how far he’s advanced. If you only spoke Latin around the Philips household, then we might be able to make some more concrete decisions, but as I see it, the boy could be rapidly expanding the English dictionary.
Katie said:
What's wrong with living in a cave?
The english language wouldn't matter then, and the boy could say whatever he wanted.
elasticwaistbandlady said:
Maybe I should bite the bullet and start scrapbooking since I can't remember many cute kid first words.
"Butt" catches on pretty fast with our younguns. Could be because of constant repetition to the word. My toddler, Melody's first really clear suprising, out of the blue word was, CHOCOLATE! Her Mother's daughter all the way. The pride, the pride.
I wanted to comment earlier but all I could think of was Vanille Ice saying, "YO, WORD to your Mother". Quoting Vanilla Ice might get me banninated from your pithy little blog, and that would be :(
I said:
For the record, I am counting "bicoo bicoo" as "flag." I'm the one making the scrapbook, and you can't stop me!!
Cate said:
Dude, when are you going to change the poll?
I said:
As soon as I feel like I've gotten a good enough statistical sample to draw a meaningful conclusion.