Question:
My son does it too. Here’s an example: "MOM! MOM! amina mina mina doggy uh huh minna ooooh mm hm" I love it! Itry to gues what he’s saying. We laugh a lot and after a bit I can usually figure it out. Or just say "mina mina that’s great" 
CKBK Go Spartans!! Yeah Michigan State!!
Response:
Sorry to piggy back on the reply, but the mal’s post hasn’t shown up on my news server yet. > Our little 23 month old boy is in a similar position with > repeating words and phrases plus his own language (plus a very > clear expletive, learned from his uncle while he accidentally > kicked his bare toes on the stair gate ). we were not concerned > by his own language, in fact i encouraged it. i hope this was the > right thing, but i’m open to correction. i seen it as a chance > for him to be creative, for example: his word for hug is > ‘caa-caa’ so we went with this because we didn’t want him to > think all his invented words were wrong, after all there not, > they’re just not used by anyone else. so the family uses caa-caa > back to him, we also use hug incidentally since we want english > to be his main language lol .
It sounds like you are handling things well. I just wanted to share how I handled the similar situation in my house. My daughter had several words for things that she made up herself. The two that come to mind are "shee" for kitty and "daydoot" for bathing suit. When ever she would see the cat and point saying "shee," I would respond, "Yes, that’s the kitty. Shall we go pet the kitty?" By doing it this way, I felt I was I acknowledging that I understood what she was talking about, but I would always use the correct word in the ensuing discussions about the cat. I would never say it in a corrective manner, I would just make sure I enunciated it well so she could hear what the proper word sounded like. One morning she woke up and "shee" was gone and "kitty" was in its place. Anyway, just my how-we-handled-it $0.02. Tami, mom to Amber (2.25 years old!) (I couldn’t take the spam anymore… To reply, delete STOPJUNKMAIL from address.) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> my view is it allows him to express his new creations and views > to us without fear of constant correction, and this will > hopefully help him build confidence. we don’t however > deliberately teach wrong words like choo-choo instead of train > etc. > again this is just my view, i’m pretty new at this fathering > stuff so i’m open to other opinions. >I was just reading Penelope Leach (darn, I don’t remember >which book – something about your child age 1-5) and she >takes the same view. A toddler is trying to communicate, >and if he communicates effectively to you (i.e., you >understand him) and you pretend that you don’t understand >him, or criticize his effective communication, then you are >undermining him. If he was successful, then treat him as >such, because rewarded success will encourage further >development. He will later learn that standard words >are necessary for success communicating with other >people. >Our 15-month-old boy sometimes talks up a storm in a >steady stream of complex sounds, complete with varied facial >expressions as if he is telling a very interesting story. We >don’t understand a single word of it! But we do pay very close >attention and ask him questions about his story, which he >answers very deliberately. At other times he uses close >approximations to real words, but those only come out one >word at a time. >Karl Brace
Response:
I’ll just add more of the same. We always use the correct word but acknowledge our son’s language. One example: he has always used the word "Sha" for flower. We ask where is the flower? he points to a flower and when asked "What is that?" he says "Sha". Just recently he has started to say "Flower". (it makes me a little sad.) Don’t worry, they learn our language. My 2 year old knows quite a few words and he uses them when he’s communicating with us BUT when he’s talking to himself or his toys he goes into a very complicated soup of phonetics that truly sounds like an alien language. He even has a special, more grunting speak that he uses just for talking to the garbage! This is JUST imitation. As a two year old, he’s not a linguist but he wants to pretend to be. Remember when we were little and we would pretend to write in cursive by just scrawling and scribbling? Same thing. Enjoy it, it won’t last long and we’ll all miss it when they start saying things like "Hey Mom, you suck." Rhea
Response:
> My son does it too. Here’s an example: > "MOM! MOM! amina mina mina doggy uh huh minna ooooh mm hm"
Yes, "aminna minna minna minna"! My 15 month-old son speaks thesame language! Karl Brace
Response:
> > My son does it too. Here’s an example: > "MOM! MOM! amina mina mina doggy uh huh minna ooooh mm hm" > Yes, "aminna minna minna minna"! My 15 month-old son speaks thesame > language! > Karl Brace
With the exception of Mah! and mumma, everything my 14 month old says starts with D.. at first everything was a "da", which we thing means dog.. so when she would point to the cats and say Da, we could correct her and say "kitty" So of course, the cats are called ditties.. tickle tickle, became diggle diggle.. Its cute trying to decipher her words Abbie
Response:
My two children who are 15 months apart in age had their own language when my son was 2-3 and my daughter 1-2. They loved to talk to each other in this language, but would speak in regular English to me and other adults. It lasted for almost a year and then gradually stopped. Suzy
I remember seeing a study on this subject once before but I do not recall who did it. I do remember that there was a set of quads and they all seem to have this secret language that only they could understand. The person narrating the story said it’s very common, especially between twins, triplets, etc. to have their own language. Now I’m sure that was alot of help! Sandy
Response:
I remember seeing a study on this subject once before but I do not recall who did it. I do remember that there was a set of quads and they all seem to have this secret language that only they could understand. The person narrating the story said it’s very common, especially between twins, triplets, etc. to have their own language. Now I’m sure that was alot of help! Sandy
Response:
" so the family uses caa-caa back to him, we also use hug incidentally since we want english to be his main language lol . " Why?? he could teach YOU to be bilingual! I think the point you made about not constantly correcting your son, but at the same time using the proper words when identifying an object was good.. C.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Our little 23 month old boy is in a similar position with > repeating words and phrases plus his own language (plus a very > clear expletive, learned from his uncle while he accidentally > kicked his bare toes on the stair gate ). we were not concerned > by his own language, in fact i encouraged it. i hope this was the > right thing, but i’m open to correction. i seen it as a chance > for him to be creative, for example: his word for hug is > ‘caa-caa’ so we went with this because we didn’t want him to > think all his invented words were wrong, after all there not, > they’re just not used by anyone else. so the family uses caa-caa > back to him, we also use hug incidentally since we want english > to be his main language lol . > my view is it allows him to express his new creations and views > to us without fear of constant correction, and this will > hopefully help him build confidence. we don’t however > deliberately teach wrong words like choo-choo instead of train > etc. > again this is just my view, i’m pretty new at this fathering > stuff so i’m open to other opinions.
I was just reading Penelope Leach (darn, I don’t remember which book – something about your child age 1-5) and she takes the same view. A toddler is trying to communicate, and if he communicates effectively to you (i.e., you understand him) and you pretend that you don’t understand him, or criticize his effective communication, then you are undermining him. If he was successful, then treat him as such, because rewarded success will encourage further development. He will later learn that standard words are necessary for success communicating with other people. Our 15-month-old boy sometimes talks up a storm in a steady stream of complex sounds, complete with varied facial expressions as if he is telling a very interesting story. We don’t understand a single word of it! But we do pay very close attention and ask him questions about his story, which he answers very deliberately. At other times he uses close approximations to real words, but those only come out one word at a time. Karl Brace
Response:
My daughter is 2 and 1/2… she understands what I tell her, she repeats what I say like a parrot, however, she has this ‘language’ of her own that she uses when she talks to me. I don’t understand a word of it. It certainly is NOT english. Is there something wrong with her, should I concerned, what is this ‘language’ of hers a sign of? Thanks! -Julie
Response:
hi julie, Our little 23 month old boy is in a similar position with repeating words and phrases plus his own language (plus a very clear expletive, learned from his uncle while he accidentally kicked his bare toes on the stair gate ). we were not concerned by his own language, in fact i encouraged it. i hope this was the right thing, but i’m open to correction. i seen it as a chance for him to be creative, for example: his word for hug is ‘caa-caa’ so we went with this because we didn’t want him to think all his invented words were wrong, after all there not, they’re just not used by anyone else. so the family uses caa-caa back to him, we also use hug incidentally since we want english to be his main language lol . my view is it allows him to express his new creations and views to us without fear of constant correction, and this will hopefully help him build confidence. we don’t however deliberately teach wrong words like choo-choo instead of train etc. again this is just my view, i’m pretty new at this fathering stuff so i’m open to other opinions. -mal. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > My daughter is 2 and 1/2… she understands what I tell her, she repeats > what I say like a parrot, however, she has this ‘language’ of her own that > she uses when she talks to me. I don’t understand a word of it. It certainly > is NOT english. > Is there something wrong with her, should I concerned, what is this > ‘language’ of hers a sign of? > Thanks! > -Julie
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