Physical and Social Context

On Friday, I babysat for my almost three-year old neighbor. Spending several hours with a child who is just learning how to speak afforded me the perfect opportunity to see many of Hayakawa's principles in action. One of the most interesting observations I made was dealing with the idea of physical and social context. During the time I was babysitting, my neighbor constructed a block tower. As he tried to add on to the tower, he accidentally knocked the entire construction over. As a response, I offered the entirely meaningless word "Whoopsie." The word at first was recieved with quizzical looks from my neighbor, but after that, everytime he knocked over the blocks, he would repeat the word.

This scenario serves as an example of how we learn what words symbolize. Although my neighbor had never heard the word I used to express that a mistake had been made, he was able to interpret what I was saying based on the context of the situation. My neighbor then took the formerly meaningless word and began using it to express that he had made a mistake. After observing my neighbor and his developing speech, my faith in Hayakawa's ideas was reaffirmed.

-Tara Burns