Living Language

Little L is a verbose little thing, totally earning her stripes as a member of our loquacious family. In fact, many who hear her in conversation will marvel that she is only 22 months because she sounds much older. Sometimes her sentences are clear and astoundingly complete and complex, surprising even us.

However, that's not to say that she is completely articulate or that she has already mastered speaking at this point. I mean, she's 22 months old! She often speaks in phrases rather than full sentences, and words are excluded all the time. There are moments when she will talk so quickly that her words blur together;  I want the iPhone sounds more like iwonaphone and her recitation of some sentences from her books are incomprehensible because she doesn't enunciate or pause between words. There are also times when she deliberately mispronounces words to make us laugh; tent becomes tee-ent and cream is said as crem, all to ham it up and make us giggle. And sometimes, she makes classic grammatical errors like adding the wrong suffixes to words, like when she said, "Mommy's beeping my nose!" when I pressed it with my finger during a rousing rendition of Wheels on the Bus.

Lately, Little L has also been modifying words to make nonsense ones. I'm not sure if all of these words have meanings, but she will refer back to them regularly so I figure that she probably means something by them. 

Riptar = guitar (she knows the actual word so this usage baffles me)

Moohat = no idea (and we don't own any cowboy hats in case you wondered)

Mopter = thermometer (again she knows and says the real word too)
Myta Myta = no idea

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is absolutely fascinating to watch how a toddler acquires and hones her language skills. The words and phrases she will pick up ("At this point" is a new one she will say with no context nor clause to follow), and the ones she chooses to ignore, are very interesting to observe. I love that language is dynamic and living, and changes and shifts and is constantly being used and misused as it "lives." This whole idea of a "living language" is awesome, and makes me marvel at the One who created language(s) to begin with!

Anyway, I always end up missing the recording of her best "talking" times because my iPhone is usually put away, but here's one "awesome" sentence for your enjoyment! ;)