A 15-month-old update on language acquisition for baby #2: Em has started to speak a few more two-word phrases. Many of these she has only said once, but so clearly that sometimes I feel like I’m imagining things except that the sounds she makes fit the context. Some recent phrases include:
- Mo(re) milk!
- Mo(re yo)gurt!
- 刷牙[brush teeth]
She’s also acquired 抱[to pick up], 狗狗[doggy], 哥哥[brother], and importantly, Mine! from bilingual baby #1, Ro.
She has also recently learned moo, probably from Moo, Baa, La la la, which is one of her favorite books. (We love when we get to the page “No, no!” you say, “That’s not right!” and she waggles her finger at us and says “no no no!”)
She has known roar for a while – a side-effect of having a dinosaur-obsessed older brother – so these are the two animal sounds in her repertoire. Other animals seemingly say no moo for now, a real throwback to a very similar phase Ro went through, documented in Bus, no bus! Now I am wondering if this is very common in toddler language acquisition. The science part of my brain is tempted to have more kids to have more data…
An update on Ro to come! Cheers.
Etymology Adventures 