[ From the American ANTHRoroLooisT for July 1890. ] NOTES ON INDIAN CHILD-LANOUAOE. nV A. F. CHAMBERLAIN. To the language of the Indian child but little attention appears to have been given. Its importance for comparison with the speech of children in other parts of the globe is very great, and its investi- gation may shed some light upon theories of the origin and develop- ment of language such as the one set forth by Mr. Horatio Hale. In the last few years there have appeared several valuable works relat- ing to the general subject of child-laijguage, its phonology and vo- cabulary. Besides the studies of Schultze*, von der Gabelentz''', and Taine\ we find in "Titin: A Study of Child-Language," by Senor D. A. Machado y Alvarez, of Seville*, a most interesting investiga- tion of the language-development of the Sefior's two children, both as regards sound and signification. Only last year Prof. A. H. Sayce* published a list of curious words belonging to the " Chil- dren's Language in the Omani Dialect of Arabia," and Mr. Hale', in his elaborate essay on the "Development of Language," has dwelt upon many of the peculiarities of infantile speech, as also has Prof. Joseph Mikch' in his interesting essay "L'Idee et la Racine." The articles of Sefior Machado and Professor Sayce will be of consid- erable value for comparison with the Indian data given in this paper. Canon Farrar*, discussing the question whether children if left to themselves would evolve the rudiments of a language, makes this state- ment : " It is a well-known fact that the neglected children in some Canadian and Indian villages, who are often left alone for days, can and do invent for themselves a sort of lingua /ranca, partially or wholly unintelligible to all except thv mselves." ^Die Sprache des Kindes, 1880. »See Hale, Op. cit., p. nj. * In Revue riiilosophique, 1876, pp. i et seq. * Trans, of Philol. Soc. (Lond.), iSSS-'y, pp. 68-74. '"Academy" (London), No. 915, November l6, 1889, pp. 324-'5. * Proceedings of Canadian Institute, 3rd series, Vol. VI, 1887-8, pp. 92-134. Espt-c. pp. 96, 97, 113, 132. ' Revue de rviiiRuistifiue et de I'liilologie compai-6e. Tome XIX, 1S86, pp. 189-206, 213-231. Kspec. pp. 195-197. ' Chapters on Language. New Edition, London, 1873, p. ^4. 238 THE AMEUICAN ANTIIUOl'OLOGIST. [Vol. III. The writer has not as yet been able to discover by what authority this assertion is made, but, having had his attention drawn to the subject, has gathered ',ugether some infoiUiation which may prove of interest nnd vaUie. A search through a dictionary for " child-words " is but too often labor lost or nearly so. For example, the "Arawak-deutsches Wor- terbuch " contained in the Bibliotheque Linguistique Americaine' yielded only the following : Awdwa (Vaterchen, Papa). — Papa. The ordinary Arawak word is ifi (Vater, Vaterbruder, Mutterbruder). Jdja (Hangematte). — Hammock. The usual Arawak word is uk- kura {ukkiirahi'i) or hamaka. Seessuban (sich setzen, sitzen)*. — To seat one's self, to sit down. The usual Arawak word is abaltin or aballaiin. While among the Mississaguas of Scugog, Ontario, in the summer of 1888, the writer was able to discover only two words used spe- cially by children : tet'e (= father, papa) and dodo (= mother, rnama). These words (sometimes with interchanged significations) occur very frequently, with more or less modified vocalism, as the names for "father" and "mother" among primitive peoples,* and may not inejitly be compared with our own English dada, etc. From the Rev. Allen Salt (a Mississagua) two other words were obtained : Tup-pe-ta. — Greasy. The ordinary word \^ pemeddwcze (it is greasy). Null, na. — Sweet. The ordinary word is weeshkoobun (it is sweet). A careful examination of the Algonkin Dictionary of the Abbe Cuoq^ has yielded the following "child-words," which the writer has extracted and arranged alphabetically : Bobo. — Hurt. Used by parent to child. Audi bobo ? Where are you hurt? The word is borrowed from French bobo. Djodjo. — Used: i) by child wishing to be suckled, 2)= mama, mother. In the latter sense it is used not merely by children but also by grown-up persons, who often say ni djodjo (my mother), ki djodjo (thy mother), etc., instead of the usual nin ga, ki ga, etc. Cuoq considers djodjo to be a child- word for totoc {iotosh, teat, breast). iTome VIII, Paris, 1882. .See pp. 104, 120, 153. ' See the list given by lUisclimann in Verb, der Uerl. ^vcad. des Wiss. a. d. Jahre, 1852, Berlin, 1853; also UiTi6ry in Revue Orientale et Am6ricainc, VIII ('863), 335-338, and Wedgwood, Diet, of Kngl. Etymol., 3d ed., 1878, li-lii. 'Lexique de la langue algonquine. Montreal, 1886. ,, July 1890.] NOTEH ON INDIAN CHILD-LANGUAGK. 231) E, e, e ! — Yes. The affirmative particle used by children consists of e repeated several times. Enh. — No. Used by very young children. Cuoq remarks the curious fact that with adults, eh! ox cnh ! signifies "yes," and states that its pronunciation " varies according to the age, sex, condition, and sentiments of the speaker." loio. — Hurt (same as bobd). From it are formed : ioioc (bad hurt), ioiociw, i (to have a bad hurt). Kaka. — I / game, 2) tender part of flesh. Cuoq says that little chil- dren denote by this word all sorts of game (bear, beaver, deer, partridge, etc.), and also, in particular, the tender part of ^ the flesh of birds, amphibious animals, fish, etc. A deriva- tive from this word in use in the language is kakawandjigan^ cartilage, marrow, soft part of animals, fish, etc. Kakac {kakasK). — i) = Pipi and caca (French), 2) dirt, filth, un- cleanlinessk A mother will sr.y -.o her child ki kakac iki {\x\ fais caca, tu {^\%pipi^, ki kakac iw (thou art dirty). Koko. — Name given by little children t -j any terrible being. This is probably the Gougou, that monster of the Indian imagina- tion of which we read in Champlain and Lescarbot, and which was supposed to live on an island in the Bale des Chaleurs. Indeed, Lescarbot' speaks of "la plaisante his- toire du Gotigott q\.\\ faii petir aux petits enfans^ A mother says to her child koko ki gat aiawik (beware of the koko). Lahala. — An individual of the white race. Lolo. — Used by little children when asking to be put back into the cradle. Cuoq compares the French dodo. Mamon. — Used by mothers to little children to induce them to go to sleep. Nana. — Everything that is eaten without the aid of a spoon. iVrt«rt!«.— Candy, sweetmeats, bon-bons. Cuoq considers that this word is probably of French origin. Paboc {pabosli). — Everything that is eaten with a spoon. Pipi. — Used by little children when asking for water. Sesewan. — This word is used only to little children, to prevent them taking up or eating something dirty, or some forbidden ob- ject. The radical Se ! means " fie ! " Tadjic (tadjish). — An exclamation of admiration. Tata. — Papa, father. 1 Histoire de la Nouvelle France, l6i2. Ed. Tross, pp. 371-395. 240 TIIK AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III. In conversing with Odjidjatekha, an educated and intelligent Mohawk from Brantford, Ontario, I learned that the fact of the ex- istence of "child-words" had come under his notice. He was able to rememb-'- four only of these : Giti-ni. — Horse. The ordinary Mohawk word x?, ga-ntih-sa. 0-dji. — An exclamation of fear, fright. Tata. — Bread. The ordinary word is ga-na-tah-ro. Wa-wa. — Meat. The ordinary word is 0-wa-ra, He also mentioned the curious fact that there is some difference between the pronunciation of the men and the women, the former, for example, saying dota and the latter toda, the consonants being vigorously uttered in each case. The first of the "child-words" in question, gi-ti-ni, was, so Odjidjatekha informed me, an invention of his own when a little boy. Cuoq^ in his Iroquois Dictionary gives some examples of " child- words" in that dialect. These I have here arranged alphabetically for more explicit reference. He calls attention to the existence of the letters b, p, and m in these words, letters which are entirely foreign to the language of the adult Iroquois. Act. — Used with sense of French caca. Ah. — Something dirty or bad tasting. Aia. — Hurt. Same signification as French bobo. Afsio. — Signifies heal and burns, cold, chilblains, etc. (Lechaud et les brfilures, le froid et les engelures). Ba. — Expresses the action of kissing, etc. (baiser, cmbrasser). ^n, — Expresses approval, consent, obedience. Enh. — Expresses refusal, rejection, repulsion. Fa. — Expresses a disagreeable odor. laiaa. — Used to designate fruit with pips, stones (fruits a pepin). Kak. — Signifies a bite, cut, etc. Man. — Used when asking for food, drink, etc. Mants. — Used when asking to be suckled. Mionts. — Used to name cats. Oo. — Used when asking to be put in a vehicle, canoe, etc. Otsih. — Expresses fear produced by the sight of a human being, an animal, etc. Tataa. — Bread, cake. Taten. — Used when asking to be taken up and carried in the arms of father or mother. ' Lexique de la langue iroquoise. Montreal, 1882, pp. 191-192. July 1890.] NOTES ON INDIAN CHILD-LANGUAGE. 241 Tsets. — Expresses the idea of goodness, beauty. Tsiap. — Expresses the idea of a fall into water. Tsiotsioo. — Used in asking for porridge, broth, and all that is eaten with a spoon. Ttsitsti. — Used in pointing out a little mollusk, an insect, a reptile, causing fear. All these words, Cuoq states, '^Are spoken in a peculiar manner, which no writing can perfectly express. ' ' The Iroquois and Algonkin dialects here treated of are those spoken by the Indians belonging to those stocks at the Lake of the Two Mountains, Province of Quebec. There appear to be a few resemblances in the Algonkin and Iro- quois "child-words" cited above, viz: Algonkin: E, enh. nana, tata. Iroquois: En, enh, man, tota. The writer does not desire at present to discuss the remoter origin and inter-relation of the "child-words" brought together in this brief essay, but hopes that additions will be made to the data there given from other sources, and that on some future occasion the sub- ject may be discussed in its wider aspects.