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<DIV>Dear Marie: You may be interested in comparing your son's development
in this respect with that reported in my own work (see p. 99) in:
Language Acquisition of a Bilingual Child, Multilingual Matters,
1985, still available from the SIT Bookstore (contact: <A
href="mailto:carl.mcinerney@sit.edu">carl.mcinerney@sit.edu)</A>. To quote
one section:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Mario favoured onomatopoeic sounds, whether playing with others or
alone. The diary contains numerous examples of sounds made during play, some
of which were so amazingly faithful that they were impossible to transcribe.
He imitated animals, tractors, aeroplanes, rockets, car brakes,
monsters, motors, explosions, sirens, hammers banging, and so
forth."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I might add that this behaviour was prevalent during
the early years and although he increasingly acquired words,
he persisted in using a large amount of onomatopoeic sounds along
with speech (unlike his younger sister) and, later, added graphics (he loved
to draw his thoughts). So, I suppose this reflects the
specific proclivities of some individuals more than others. Today, in
his 30s, he continues to enjoy both modalities as dimensions of his
expressive abilities. (Examples of the actual sounds are scattered
throughout the speech diary, a portion of which is contained in the
book).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And, by the way, he recently participated in the Erasmus Mundus
program, studying in Aarhus, this past year, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Another side note -- Aarhus was also a town that participated over many
years in international exchanges with other countries
through the Danish Experiment in International Living (which
unfortunately no longer exists in Denmark), and where I worked until
retirement.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>With best wishes,</DIV>
<DIV>Alvino<BR> </DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Dr Alvino E. Fantini, Professor Emeritus, SIT</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Professor, Graduate School, MA in Language
Communication</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Kenkyu Research Center Bldg No. 1, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Matsuyama University, </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 ze="2">4-2 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime
790-85, Japan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Office tel: 089 926 7548 (Ext 42 / Cell tel: 080 5660
3640</FONT></DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px;
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: mariehojholt <mariehojholt@stofanet.dk><BR>To:
info-childes@mail.talkbank.org<BR>Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:05:15 +0200<BR>
Subject: an onomatopoeic toddler<BR><BR><FONT face="verdana, arial,
helvetic" size=2>
<DIV><FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetic" size=2>Dear all!<BR>Being new at
this network I wish to thank you all for a fantastic opportunity to
correspond with equals, or, kind of. I am graduate student of linguistics in
Aarhus, Denmark.<BR>Here is my question:<BR>I am looking for relevant
studies of children who do not seem to acquire actual words as much as
onomatopoeic sounds.<BR>My two-year-old son Harald, is developing "according
to plan" but doesn't care for the "linguistic symbols that the surrounding
environment has as consensus": words.<BR><BR>Here is a short list of his
sounds and utterances:<BR>"Mor (mummy) aa-aj (~not) bzzz (sound of
fly) krqr (sound of breaking which means "egg") - pip-pip
(sound of bird) krqr (sound of breaking" <BR>- so: Mummy, flies
don't have eggs, BIRDS have eggs!"<BR><BR>"words":<BR>water: "aah!" (sound
you make after drinking)<BR>food: "mtl-mtl" (chewing-sound)<BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>sleeping/bed: "hhhrr-pfffff" (sleeping
sound)<BR>toothbrush: "hrhr-hrhr"<BR>Cracker/"broken"/egg: "krqr" <BR>
Pooridge: "ph-ph-ph" (sound of boiling)<BR></FONT></FONT></DIV><BR>
<DIV><FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetic" size=2><FONT face="Times New
Roman" size=3>Apart from this he uses all the usual onomatopoeic sounds
typical for children: animal sounds, vehicle sounds...<BR>He does have some
actual words: Mom, dad, diper, blue, Gorm (brother), home, now, more, shoe,
in, ...but not too many verbs.<BR>I hope some of you have comments on this,
or links, references or anything.<BR>I am not worried about him, since he is
a happy, clever boy who communicates adequately and relevantly, and - to me
- intelligably.<BR>Though, I am hyperinterested in understanding his
procedures and apparently somewhat onomatopoeic-ICONIC language behaviour.
<BR>He is not interested in us telling him what the real words are, and if
we try to push him, he ignores us or get angry.<BR>All my best,<BR>Marie
Hoejholt</DIV></FONT></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
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