Comenius' School of Infancy/Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII.
USE OF LANGUAGE.
1. Two things preëminently distinguish men from brutes,—reason and speech.[1] Man needs the former on his own account, the latter for the sake of his neighbor. Both, therefore, equally demand our care, so that man may have his mind and tongue equally trained, and exercised as well as possible. We now, therefore, add something respecting instruction in language, such as when and how the principles of grammar, rhetoric, and poetry ought to be propounded. The beginnings of grammar appear in certain children as early as their first half-year; generally, however, towards the end of the year, when certain letters in their language begin to be formed, such as a, e, i; or even syllables, such as ba, ma, ta, etc. But in the following year complete syllables begin to be formed, when they try to pronounce whole words. It is usual to propose to them the easier words to be pronounced, such as tata, mama, papa, and nana; and there is need to do this, for nature herself impels them to begin with easier words, since the manner adopted by adults in pronouncing father, mother, food, drink, etc., is difficult to be pronounced by infants’ tongues, just becoming loose.
3. As soon, however, as their tongues begin to be more supple, it is hurtful to indulge them in this practice, which may thus lead them to speaking lispingly; and if this practice be allowed, when children come to learn longer words, and at length to speak, they will be required to unlearn what they had before learned incorrectly. Why should not the mother, sister, or attendant, when amusing children, freely open the mouths and teach them to pronounce letters and syllables properly, distinctly, articulately, or even entire words, beginning always with the shorter? This will be sufficient grammar for the second year, which exercise may be continued all along to the third year, but because of the dullness of some children moderation is occasionally necessary.
4. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth years, the language will increase with increase in the knowledge of things,[2] provided exercise is not omitted, so that they may be accustomed to name whatever they see at home, or whatever they are employed in. They should often be asked, What is this? What are you about? What is this called? always taking care that they pronounce the answers distinctly; in this respect no further instruction is necessary, unless to please them by intermingling some playfulness; for example, who can pronounce better and quicker than the others any such long words as Taratantara, Constantinopolitan, etc.
5. The principles of rhetoric arise in the first year, and indeed in a great measure intuitively by gestures; for as long as the intellect and powers of speech in this early age remain in their deep roots, we are accustomed to draw them to the knowledge of ourselves by certain gestures and external actions; for example, when we lift them up, put them to rest, show them anything, or smile upon them; by all these things we aim at this, that they in their turn should look at us, smile, reach out their hand to take what we give them. And so we learn naturally to understand first by gesture and then by speech, even as we do with the deaf and dumb.[3] I maintain that a child in its first and second year is able to understand what a wrinkled and what an unwrinkled forehead mean, what a threat indicated by the finger means, what a nod means, what a repeated nod means, etc., which in truth is the basis of rhetorical action.
6. About the third year children begin to understand and imitate actions, according to gestures, occasionally questioning, sometimes expressing admiration. On the doctrine of tropes, while they are endeavoring to understand the proper meaning of words, they cannot perceive much, yet they may learn them, if in their fifth and sixth years they hear any such from their equals in age or from their attendants. There is, however, no need of solicitude as to their understanding them, since they will have sufficient time afterwards for those higher and ornamental words. My only aim here is to show, although this is not generally attended to, that the roots of all sciences and arts, in every instance, arise as early as this tender age; and that on these foundations it is neither difficult nor impossible for the whole superstructure of rhetoric to be laid, provided always that we act reasonably with reasonable creatures.
7. Almost the same may be said of poetry, which binds, and, as it were, entwines language in rhythm and measure. The principles of poetry arise with the beginning of speech; for as soon as the child begins to understand words, at the same time it begins to love melody and rhythm.[4] Therefore nurses, when a child, from having fallen or injured itself, is wailing, are wont to solace it with these or similar rhymes:[5]—
“My dear baby, O sweet baby,
Why did you go and run away?
This has come from going astray;
If baby had been sitting still,
It never would have suffered ill.”
This pleases infants so much that they not only become immediately quiet, but even smile. The nurses also, patting them with the hand soothingly, chant to them these or similar lines:—
“Dearest baby, do not weep,
Shut your pretty eyes to sleep;
Go to bye bye, baby dear,
And forget your pain and fear,”[6]
8. In the third and fourth year some such rhymes may be beneficially taught; nurses, when playing with children, may sing to them, not only to prevent their crying, but also to fix them in the memories for future benefit; for example, in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years it will increase the knowledge of poetry by committing to memory pious little verses; of this, however, I afterwards treat among the exercises of piety in the tenth chapter. Although they may not at this time understand what rhythm or verse is, yet by use they learn to note a certain difference between measured language and prose; nay, when in due time everything shall be explained in the schools, it will afford them pleasure to find that they had previously learned something which they now understand the better. Childish poetry, therefore, consists in their knowing some rhymes and verses; for children can understand what is rhythm and poetry, and what is plain speech. So far, then, should they study their own language, and in its various degrees of progress be exercised during the first six years.[7]
- ↑ Comenius was the first of the great reformers to recognize the need of training in the mother-tongue and to separate the infant from the Latin schools. “The schools have failed,” he wrote, “and instead of keeping to the true object of education, they have neglected even the mother-tongue and confined themselves to the teaching of Latin.”
- ↑ Comenius had the correct notion that ideas of things must precede words; and accordingly he provides extended nature studies to precede the word-learning period.
- ↑ In Comenius’ day the deaf were taught by signs and gesture. To-day in all the better institutions in America and Europe, deaf children are taught to articulate and read the lips. The editor has conversed with many such children—notably in the Horace Mann School in Boston and the National Institutions at Leipzig and Paris—whose voices were so natural and whose lip-reading so accurate as to have easily mistaken them for hearing children.
- ↑ Mr. Albert E. Winship, in his little booklet The Shop (Boston, 1889), remarks: ‘‘The keynote of home is rhythm, which means comfort. . . . It can neither be tested by rule nor taught by methods.”
Plato, in the Republic, observes: “Good language and good harmony and grace and good rhythm all depend upon a good nature, by which I do not mean that silliness which by courtesy we call good nature, but a mind that is really well and nobly constituted in its moral character.”
- ↑ Jean Paul remarks: “The error of prematurely introducing a child to the treasures of poetry can only arise from the esthetic mistake of believing the spirit of poetry to consist less in the whole, than in its variously scattered, dazzling charms of sound, pictures, events, and feelings; for these, a child has naturally a ready ear. Rhyme delights both the most uncultivated and the youngest ear.”
- ↑ In Heart of Oak, Book I., edited by Professor Charles Eliot Norton, and published by D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, mothers and teachers will find many well-selected rhymes especially suitable for this early period of childhood.
- ↑ As already noted, Comenius was at variance with the schoolmasters of the Renaissance, who substituted Latin from the first for the mother-tongue. Against this practice he protested vigorously. Mulcaster in England and Ratich in Germany had previously made similar protests. The latter wrote: “First let the mother-tongue be studied, and teach everything through the mother-tongue, so that the learner’s attention may not be diverted to the language.” Again: “To learn Latin before learning the mother-tongue is like wishing to mount a horse before knowing how to walk.”
The Port Royalists also joined in this protest against the humanists. They wrote: “People complain, and complain with reason, that in giving their children Latin we take away French; and to turn them into citizens of ancient Rome, we make them strangers in their native land.”