12.11.2006
what's in a word
How can you tell when a baby has said her first word? There are so many false starts: the mamas and dadas that don't actually signify anything in particular, the claims of various relatives that they heard her say "tomato," really she did! (No, she didn't.)
In one sense, Baby said her first "word" in her first month of life: She had a particular sound she would make when she wanted milk--I would call it a phoneme if I hadn't gotten that B- in Linguistics. It was a completely distinct "ging" that happened to be the exact same sound I made as a baby, when I wanted milk. She said "ging" for the purpose of communication, and it was effective for that purpose. A word, but clearly not a word.
In terms of true English speech, then, there are two contenders. Husband is voting for "eye," which she says while pointing to her eye, so it's definitely legit. It's clearly first, but I prefer the more recent "apple," because it is so cute, and also it's two whole syllables, and she says it with such glee and pride.
The backstory here is that no one can remember what my first word was--apart from that "ging." So I really want to get this thing right.
In one sense, Baby said her first "word" in her first month of life: She had a particular sound she would make when she wanted milk--I would call it a phoneme if I hadn't gotten that B- in Linguistics. It was a completely distinct "ging" that happened to be the exact same sound I made as a baby, when I wanted milk. She said "ging" for the purpose of communication, and it was effective for that purpose. A word, but clearly not a word.
In terms of true English speech, then, there are two contenders. Husband is voting for "eye," which she says while pointing to her eye, so it's definitely legit. It's clearly first, but I prefer the more recent "apple," because it is so cute, and also it's two whole syllables, and she says it with such glee and pride.
The backstory here is that no one can remember what my first word was--apart from that "ging." So I really want to get this thing right.
