Even psycholinguistics can be funny and adorable. Especially the part how children acquire language. An excerpt from the textbook:
Another example of an idiomorph is reported by Reich (1986), who told of a child who referred to ice cream as ABCDE. Although his parents were initially puzzled, they eventually figured it out. They tended to spell out certain words that they did not want the child to know, so they might ask each other, "Would you like some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M?" The child could not spell it, so he simply used the only letters he knew!
But my favorite example comes from Hakuta (1986), who reported that a child said, "Whew!" as a way of saying hello to guests who came to the house. It turns out that the mother often greeted the child in the morning in this way, along the lines of, "Whew! You must have some load in your pants!"
Another example of an idiomorph is reported by Reich (1986), who told of a child who referred to ice cream as ABCDE. Although his parents were initially puzzled, they eventually figured it out. They tended to spell out certain words that they did not want the child to know, so they might ask each other, "Would you like some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M?" The child could not spell it, so he simply used the only letters he knew!
But my favorite example comes from Hakuta (1986), who reported that a child said, "Whew!" as a way of saying hello to guests who came to the house. It turns out that the mother often greeted the child in the morning in this way, along the lines of, "Whew! You must have some load in your pants!"
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