ABSTRACT
In children the instinctive feeling for the value of sounds is more vivid than in adults, hence we have the extreme instance observed by G. v. d. Gabelentz in one of his nephews, who said lakeil for an ordinary chair, lukul for a big easy-chair, and likil for a tiny doll’s chair; he had the root m-m for everything round: the moon or a plate was mem, a large round dish was mom or mum, but the stars were mim-mim-mim-mim. When his father appeared before him in a big fur-coat, he did not say papa, but pupu. (Die Sprachwissensch. 65). In exactly the same way a child in Lund (Sweden) called his father pωppω (w a close sound between o and u), when he saw him in a great-coat. Beckman, who relates this (Språkpsyk. och Modersm., Lund 1899, 60) believes in influence from the adjective stor [stωr]. A Danish child who had heard the word himmel ‘sky’, took it to mean the little twinkling stars and made it a plural [hi˙mә].
