#Children poets

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Children's Dialogue

Language is extremely complex, yet children already know most of the grammar of their native language(s) before they are 5 years old.

BABBLING

Babbling begins at about 6 months and is considered the earliest stage of language acquisition

By 1 year babbles are composed only of the phonemes used in the language(s) they hear

Deaf babies babble with their hands like hearing babies babble using sounds

FIRST WORDS

After the age of one, children figure out that sounds are related to meanings and start to produce their first words

Usually children go through a holophrastic stage, where their one-word utterances may convey more meaning

Example: "Up" is used to indicate something in the sky or to mean “pick me up”

Most common first words (among the first 10 words uttered in many languages): “mommy,” “daddy,” “woof woof,” “no,” “bye,” “hi,” “yes,” “vroom,” “ball” and “banana”

WORD MEANINGS

When learning words, children often overextend a word’s meaning

Example: Using the word dog to refer to any furry, four-legged animal (overextensions tend to be based on shape, size, or texture, but never color)

They may also underextend a word’s meaning

Example: Using the word dog to refer only to the family pet, as if dog were a proper noun

The Whole Object Principle: When a child learns a new word, (s)he is likely to interpret the word to refer to a whole object rather than one of its parts

SYNTAX

At about two years of age, children start to put words together to form two-word utterances

The intonation contour extends over the two words as a unit, and the two-word utterances can convey a range of meanings:

Example: "mommy sock" = subject + object or possessive

NOTE: Chronological age is NOT a good measure of linguistic development due to individual differences, so instead linguists use the child’s mean length of utterance (MLU) to measure development

The telegraphic stage describes a phase when children tend to omit function morphemes such as articles, subject pronouns, auxiliaries, and verbal inflection

Examples: "He play little tune" or "Andrew want that"

Between 2;6 and 3;6 a language explosion occurs and children undergo rapid development

By the age of 3, most children consistently use function morphemes and can produce complex syntactic structures:

Examples: "He was stuck and I got him out" / "It’s too early for us to eat"

After 3;6 children can produce wh-questions, and relative pronouns

Sometime after 4;0 children have acquired most of the adult syntactic competence

PRAGMATICS

Deixis: Children often have problems with the shifting reference of pronouns

Children may refer to themselves as "you"

Problems with the context-dependent nature of deictic words: Children often assume the hearer knows who s/he is talking about

AUXILIARIES

In the telegraphic stage, children often omit auxiliaries from their speech but can form questions (with rising intonation) and negative sentences

Examples: "I ride train?" / "I not like this book"

As children acquire auxiliaries in questions and negative sentences, they generally use them correctly

SIGNED LANGUAGES

Deaf babies acquire sign language in the same way that hearing babies acquire spoken language: babbling, holophrastic stage, telegraphic stage

When deaf babies are not exposed to sign language, they will create their own signs, complete with systematic rules

IMITATION, REINFORCEMENT, ANALOGY

Children do imitate the speech heard around them to a certain extent, but language acquisition goes beyond imitation

Children produce utterances that they never hear from adults around them, such as "holded" or "tooths"

Children cannot imitate adults fully while acquiring grammar

Example:

Adult: "Where can I put them?" Child: "Where I can put them?"

Children who develop the ability to speak later in their childhood can understand the language spoken around them even if they cannot imitate it

NOTE: Children May Resist Correction

Example: Cazden (1972) (observation attributed to Jean Berko Gleason) – My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them. – Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits? – Yes. – What did you say she did? – She holded the baby rabbits and we patted them. – Did you say she held them tightly? – No, she holded them loosely.

Another theory asserts that children hear a sentence and then use it as a model to form other sentences by analogy

But while analogy may work in some situations, certainly not in all situations:

– I painted a red barn. – I painted a barn red. – I saw a red barn. – I saw a barn red.

Children never make mistakes of this kind based on analogy which shows that they understand structure dependency at a very young age

BIRTH ORDER

Children’s birth order may affect their speech.

Firstborns often speak earlier than later-born children, most likely because they get more one-on-one attention from parents.

They favor different words than their siblings. 

Whereas firstborns gabble on about animals and favorite colors, the rest of the pack cut to the chase with “brother,” “sister,” “hate” and such treats as “candy,” “popsicles” and “donuts.” 

The social dynamics of siblings, it would appear, prime their vocabularies for a reality different than the firstborns’ idyllic world of sheep, owls, the green of the earth and the blue of the sky.

MOTHER'S LEVEL OF EDUCATION

Children may adopt vocabulary quite differently depending on their mother’s level of education.

In American English, among the words disproportionately favored by the children of mothers who have not completed secondary education are: “so,” “walker,” “gum,” “candy,” “each,” “could,” “wish,” “but,” “penny” and “be” (ordered starting with the highest frequency).

The words favored by the children of mothers in the “college and above” category are: “sheep,” “giraffe,” “cockadoodledoo,” “quack quack,” the babysitter’s name, “gentle,” “owl,” “zebra,” “play dough” and “mittens.” 

BOYS / GIRLS

One area of remarkable consistency across language groups is the degree to which the language of children is gendered.

The words more likely to be used by American girls than by boys are: “dress,” “vagina,” “tights,” “doll,” “necklace,” “pretty,” “underpants,” “purse,” “girl” and “sweater.”

Whereas those favored by boys are “penis,” “vroom,” “tractor,” “truck,” “hammer,” “bat,” “dump,” “firetruck,” “police” and “motorcycle.”

Tips for Writing Children's Dialogue (compiled from various sources cited below):

Milestones - The dialogue you write should be consistent with the child's developmental milestones for their age. Of course, other factors should be considered such as if the child has any speech or intellectual difficulties. Also note that developmental milestones are not set in stone and each child is unique in their own way.

Too "Cutesy" - If your child characters are going to be cute, they must be cute naturally through the force of their personality, not because the entire purpose of their existence is to be adorable.

Too Wise - It’s true kids have the benefit of seeing some situations a little more objectively than adults. But when they start calmly and unwittingly spouting all the answers, the results often seem more clichéd and convenient than impressive or ironic.

Unintelligent - Don’t confuse a child’s lack of experience with lack of intelligence. 

Baby Talk - Don’t make a habit of letting them misuse words. Children are more intelligent than most people think.

Unique Individuals - Adults often tend to lump all children into a single category: cute, small, loud, and occasionally annoying. Look beyond the stereotype.

Personal Goals - The single ingredient that transforms someone from a static character to a dynamic character is a goal. It can be easy to forget kids also have goals. Kids are arguably even more defined by their goals than are adults. Kids want something every waking minute. Their entire existence is wrapped up in wanting something and figuring out how to get it.

Don't Forget your Character IS a Child - Most of the pitfalls in how to write child characters have to do with making them too simplistic and childish. But don’t fall into the opposite trap either: don’t create child characters who are essentially adults in little bodies.

Your Personal Observation - To write dialogue that truly sounds like it could come from a child, start by being an attentive listener. Spend time around children and observe how they interact with their peers and adults. You can also study other pieces of media that show/write about children's behaviour (e.g., documentaries, films, TV shows, even other written works like novels and scripts).

Context - The context in which children speak is crucial to creating realistic dialogue. Consider their environment, who they're speaking to, and what's happening around them. Dialogue can change drastically depending on whether a child is talking to a friend, a parent, or a teacher. Additionally, children's language can be influenced by their cultural background, family dynamics, and personal experiences. Make sure the context informs the dialogue, lending credibility to your characters' voices.

Sources and other related articles: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Writing Notes: On Children Writing Notes: Childhood Bilingualism

[cametotheshowinsd]

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT | TAYLOR SWIFT

A debrief, a detailed rewinding For the purpose of warning For the sake of reminding As you might all unfortunately recall I had been struck with a case of a restricted humanity Which explains my plea here today of temporary insanity

[miradeniz]

[thepersonalwords]

Some mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.

Banksy

[liesmultixxx]

WHO’S AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME?

[thelonelybrilliance]

She really got promised marriage and children at 20 and then nobody ever had the heart and courage to carry through

[lepetitdragonvert]

THE WAY OF THE WORLD

Three little people from the big, big town

Gazed up into the tall, tall tree ;

“Look here ! Oh, look here !” cried they all. “How queer ;

What can those funny creatures be ?”

Wide, wide awake were the two solemn owls ;

They had slept all day at their ease.

Now they peered down below at the children in a row,

And muttered : “What on earth are these ?”

High, high from the sky the moon looked down.

“It’s very, very odd,” said he,

“That anyone should care to dwell down there

Instead of in the sky like me.”

But owls still go prowling in the deep, deep night,

When the children bundle home to their rest ;

And everyone, my dear, thinks the other one is queer.

‘T is a funny, funny world at the best.

Author : Frida Augusta Lucy Wolfe

Illustrator : Dorothy Rees

[adventuresofalgy]

With a hop, skip and jump, Algy landed in the midst of the beautiful glowing grasses which lit up the drier areas of the peat bogs and moorland when the sun managed to shine in the latter part of the year.

As he floated on a sea of autumn colour, Algy revelled in the fabulous patchwork of his bed, for he was surrounded by every possible hue of russet, red and gold, with accents of tantalising green still mixed in to provide a palette which any painter would be justly proud of.

Resting gently on the soft grasses, Algy resolved to spend a lazy Sunday just drifting and dreaming, while there was still some warmth in the world. As he dozed happily in a golden reverie, sometimes half awake and sometimes half asleep, a sweet wee verse he had once read in a book kept repeating itself over and over in his head, like the comforting drone of the bees somewhere out of sight on the last remaining heather:

Golden in the garden, Golden in the glen, Golden, golden, golden September’s here again! Golden in the tree tops, Golden in the sky— Golden, golden, golden September’s going by!

Algy hopes that you will all have a happy, lazy Sunday too 🧡

[Algy is quoting September, a wee rhyme by the little known early 20th century American children's poet Annette Wynne.]

[uwmspeccoll]

National Poets Day

On this National Poets Day, August 21, we celebrate the work of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Tagore began writing poetry as a child and remained committed throughout his life to exploring the natural and spiritual world through poetry and prose. He was known as the “Bard of Bengal” and in 1913 became the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his collection of poetry Gitanjali.  

Within the Special Collections we hold the first edition of Moon, For What Do You Wait?, a collection of Tagore poems from his 1916 publication Stray Birds which consisted of 326 verses. Published in 1967 by Atheneum, Moon, For What Do You Wait? was edited by Richard Lewis, director of the Touchstone Center for Children in New York City, with illustrations by award-winning artist and author Ashley Bryan (1923-2022). Lewis manages to whittle down Tagore’s lines without losing any of the imbued wonder and delight present in the original publication. Accompanied by Bryan’s bold illustrations, readers are encouraged to let their eyes wander over the pages, getting lost in prose and imagery.  

View more poetry posts.

-- Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Celebrity worshipping stans on Twitter have become upset over Taylor Swift not posting on Twitter anymore due to the #SwiftiesForPalestine movement trying to hold her accountable for her silence. It has caused a lot of division within the fandom.

The celebrity worshipping stans who infantilise the 34-year old billionaire are extremely upset:

The fans who care about genocide and social issues also react:

[soulinkpoetry]

Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful mothers who provide, comfort, support, feed, cloth, soothe their babies tirelessly. It’s the hardest job in life but also the most rewarding when their little hands wrap around your neck and don’t want to let you go. Children are happiness.

.

.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 💐💐💐

.

[mycosmicbackyard]

My lovely daughters

I want to give you world with moon and stars from moment since the first of you arrived I wished to build my nest, to fight and strive, to journey through the farthest, miles afar

I want to give you solar flares of wealth, to rest within the comforts of your home, through cultures and in landscapes, travel, roam! With bodys, minds, emotion filled with health

I wanted you to know that I was yours that I would help you out in any way, that I would build foundations and to stay and I would fight the crisis and the wars

Though, decades gave me lessons of its growth, like time I grew, evolved and learned of life, and maybe I got bitter, perchance strife, for I am one, and cannot cover both

You’re different, opposites, like day and night, you're full of life, your will to be is strong, and I am grateful in my humbled sight; for maybe, you will find where you belong?

I cannot let you see my blackest thoughts, I cannot let you feel my darkest sights, for I have felt the tragic touch of loss, and I have traveled through the darkest nights

Protective, I may be, perhaps too much, I cannot let you be where i have been, it is not yours, Pandora's Box to touch to see the nights and horrors I have seen

But i will let you listen to Life's tale, which always is the opposite of both, for life, it carries Light and with its Veil; of Darkness is potentials of your growth

And secrets of my family, filled with shame, will die when I inhale of my last breath, cause deep within, I carry sacret flame, so all those lies will burn and reach for death

And you will feel your lives with freedom, love, within you rests the tales of Newborn Light, and I will be there, smiling from above, too see how you will live from deep delight.

[coastaltowned]

ttpd song predictions: who's afraid of little old me?

two theories: (1) a song about what it's like to be a writer with a muse falling out of love with you, wondering if he won't leave because he's too afraid to. (2) a song about how the only person who is afraid of you... is you.

[inkintheclouds]

Everyone talks about the eldest child’s burdens or the middle child’s struggle for recognition, but who talks about the youngest? The one constantly left out because they’re ‘too young’ to understand, always trailing behind their siblings. People say the middle child is forgotten, but perhaps it’s the youngest who truly fades into the background. They’re bossed around just because they’re younger, but the moment they try to do something differently, they’re labelled 'mean’ or ‘selfish’. It’s as if their individuality isn’t allowed—if they don’t follow the exact same mould, they’re the troublemaker. No one understands the weight they carry—the constant struggle to carve out their own identity in a family where everyone else’s interests always come first. They just want their passions acknowledged and their voice to be heard. They want to feel loved, not dismissed as an ‘attention-seeker’ or reduced to ‘the baby’ of the house. They long to experience what it means to be independent and important—not just a kid who supposedly ‘doesn’t understand anything.’ For once, they want to be taken seriously, to make decisions without everyone assuming they’re incapable.

— cloud.

[witchofthesouls]

I’d image that Girl Dad! Megatron (mostly MTMTE/IDW) would do some ‘baby proofing’ after his daughter is born, not only the form of hiding sharp objects and putting extra alarms on doors, but also in cleaning up the Decepticon ranks, the first to go being the Phase Sixers or at the minimum Overlord 😳

The ultimate sparkling/hybrid child proofing mechanism and parent-child bonding: his personal sparkling hold.

Frames that deal with immense and wild environmental changes, like miners, submarines, and shuttles, have something like an internal kangaroo pouch.

The structure is located deep within their frames, near if not settled next to their spark chambers. Within the dark hold that mimics similar conditions to a gestational chamber, it's cozily warm, well-protected, and well-fed behind tons of thick plating and nozzles connected to the mecha's fuel systems. There are specialized mechanics that refine the fuel directly from the main tank and their circulation to pull out vital nutrients and initial firewalls to create a dense, creamy sparkling fuel.

Adults unused to having a newspark within them will eventually figure out how to keep their hold still as the bitty bounces and rolls inside them. (Imagine the leader of the Decepticons at the meeting, and his subordinates are hanging onto his subtle changes, thinking the results are not up to adequacy. Meanwhile, his daughter has decided to smush herself to the side that's closest to his spark. I'm here! Yes, he knows.)

Fresh newsparks typically stay inside those holds until they reach the phase where they can toddle on their own as their plating has settled into a more appropriate density and hardness, the milky film has worn off, and they gained a significant amount of weight.

IDW Megatron doesn't strike as a mech that would get rid of the Phase Sixers or other dangerous elements. The violent and brutal kratocracy that became the Decepticon movement is a testament to the cruelties implemented by Functionist-held Cybertron as well as a twisted mockery and reflection of his own self and journey and spiral from "Decepticons to uplift the masses" to "Megatron's Decepticons."

If anything, he would keep the kid under wraps where only a handful of mechs ever known their existence, especially if he sired a techno-organic child.