Maximilian12 weeks –babbling [na-a-na-na], [aree], [ørø] (sound [r] in this case sounds more like French uvular fricative, so we were laughing that Max was saying ‘heureux’)
just under 4 months –babbling gets more varied; Max copies the falling tone of our talk when addressing him just under 6 months –“blows raspberries”, practices bilabial consonants [m] and [b], as well as well as the voiceless stop [k]. Max’s range of intonations is very diverse.
6 months –often speaks in clusters of consonants, his favourite consonant now is [g], as in [ga] (note: at 11 months [ga] and [ka] will stand for many words in Russian that finish in [ka], so maybe this actually had its beginning at 6 months. Max figured out that many Russian nouns, especially in a diminutive form:
7 months –first experiments with his tongue: sticks it out, chews on it, rolls it; then his babbling always diversifies, like Zoe’s [bla-bla-bla]
8 months –has learnt to beckon the ducks from Grandma Valentina by opening and closing the palm “Ути-ути-ути, идите к нам!” (Ducks-ducks-ducks, come to us!)
Repeats [k-k-ka!] very often.
Sometimes waves for привет (hi) and пока (bye). Has caught up with Zoe’s babbling skills [ata-ajda-da-a-ya].
just under 9 months –says [mama/ama], not clear if he means мама (mother). That’s what they say when taken away from me, wishing to be given back to me, which makes me think that they do mean мама (mother).
Max has learnt to raise his hands at the end of the Russian rhyme Ладушки for “бабушка добренька” (granny is gentle): we thus stroke both cheeks when saying the last line. 9 months –Max has started pointing at animals in the book, like обезьянка (Rus. “monkey”).
His favourite now is [ata], which he repeats in various contexts and with different intonations and varying stress.
10 months –crawls to the toy tiger when asked Где тигренок? (Where’s the little tiger?).
[dat’] – (Rus. “to give”)
11 months –
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Zoë7 weeks –cooing, especially when Zoe is cozy and snug, in a sling with someone 4 months –Zoe’s babbling [glya-yaoo-nya-n-n-nya-nya-nyoo]. [Glya] will take an important place in Zoe’s repertoire for a long time just under 6 months –likes testing the volume range of her voice as she goes from whispering [hej] to shrieking [a-a-a-a]! Dominating consonants: [n] and [l], as in [na], [ni], [nej], [na]. 6 months –still prefers vowels; dominant clusters of sounds are [hej] and [ni]. just under 7 months –Zoe’s babbling has drastically diversified and advanced! It sounds like a made-up language. The change took place overnight and was striking! [na-la-bla-blya-li-na-ba] 7 months –“blows raspberries”, imitates fish [pʌ-pʌ-pʌ]. Started to clap her hands to a Russian rhyme similar to “Pat-a-cake” Ладушки. 8 months –has learnt to beckon the ducks from Grandma Valentina by opening and closing the palm “Ути-ути-ути, идите к нам!” (Ducks-ducks-ducks, come to us!) She is picking up new gestures and sounds very fast now, she watches our articulation rather intently [plya-pla-ama]. Sometimes waves for привет (hi) and пока (bye). just under 9 months –says [mama/ama], not clear if she means мама (mother) (See the same for Max). 9 months –Zoe gracefully waves rotating her wrist when she hears Барыня (a Russian song accompanied by this motion). She has learnt this from Granny Valentina. Zoe calls me [ma-a-a]. She kisses me when I lean to her and say Поцелуй, Зоенька! (Rus. “Zoe, kiss!”). 2 days after Max she pointed at the monkey in a book when asked Где обезьянка? (Rus. “Where is the monkey?”). When she sees a cat, a toy or a real one, or hears me say кисонька (cat) she says [a! a! a!] in a high-pitched voice. 10 months –[pu-pu-pu], [pa-pa-pa], [ata-atya] 11 months –
11.5 months –
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NB: Labeling one’s children is tempting but it is never a good thing to do. It is tempting because it gives one a feeling of having figured one’s children out, and of knowing them. I am guilty of generalising and labeling. Zoe was the first to coo, and so I assumed that she would lead in language development. Then Max was the first to babble, and again I jumped to the conclusion, that his language skills were more advanced than Zoe’s. Then Zoe’s babbling took off simply overnight, and there was no stopping her ‘chatting’ which now was more advanced phonetically and intonationally than Max’s. However, Max was the first to actually speak some Russian words besides ‘mama’ (мама) and ‘papa’ (папа). In the matters of language(s) development, and any other development really, there is no room for labels, predictions, and assumptions. |
Cooing – vowel-like sound that infants make when they appear to be happy and content (WANG, X.-L. 2008. Growing up with Three Languages., Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto, Multilingual Matters, p.73).
Babbling – repetition of consonant-vowel combination sounds (ibid.p.74).