From LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU Sat Mar 6 22:48:06 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI Received: (qmail 5330 invoked from network); 20 May 1997 16:46:09 -0000 Received: from segate.sunet.se (192.36.125.6) by xiron.pc.helsinki.fi with SMTP; 20 May 1997 16:46:09 -0000 Received: from segate.sunet.se by SEGATE.SUNET.SE (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <13.8B701C50@SEGATE.SUNET.SE>; Tue, 20 May 1997 18:46:08 +0100 Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 10:54:36 -0600 Reply-To: mark.vines@wholefoods.com Sender: Lojban list From: Mark Vines Subject: Caretaker Phrases: Peek-a-Boo X-To: LOJBAN@CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU To: Veijo Vilva Content-Length: 3838 Lines: 120 Message-ID: coidoi lobypli Our daughter (& thus-far only child) Erin is 6 months old now. As with all babies, almost everyone who talks to Erin talks funny. We choose funny words, pronounce them in a funny way, & accompany our words with funny gestures & facial expressions. Linguists refer to this kind of talk as "caretaker speech". It may be instinctive, & probably helps children to acquire language. Caretaker speech is normally defined by _how_ things are said, & not by _what_ is said. Directive eye contact & voice tone are more important than the words being used. Even so, I've noticed that people who use caretaker speech with Erin tend to say certain things to her with great frequency. Let us refer to such frequent utterances as "Caretaker Phrases". These vary from culture to culture & maybe even from house to house. However, some linguists hypothesize that these utterances contain important cues & clues which help children to master various grammatical features of their mother tongue, as well as concepts, vocabulary & so forth. With that hypothesis in mind, I have been trying to translate into Lojban some of the English-language caretaker phrases that I've heard people use when they talk to Erin. I have the notion that a list of such phrases might be useful for anyone interested in teaching Lojban to young children ... especially if others will contribute to the list, so it won't be limited to the caretaker phrases from a single household. I would appreciate any comments, criticisms or suggestions on how to improve &or expand the list. Most of the phrases I've collected can be assigned to one of several game-like interactions between caretaker & child. One of these is the interaction which is often called "Peek-a-Boo". In this interaction, the baby's face is briefly covered up with a towel or blanket (or whatever) & the caretakers then pretend they cannot find the baby. Then the baby's face is uncovered & the caretakers pretend to discover the baby. Sometimes a caretaker is hidden & then revealed in a similar routine. Here are my tentative translations of Peek-a-Boo Caretaker Phrases into Lojban: PB01 Where are you? .ue do zvati vi ma PB02 There you are! .ua do zvati vi ta PB03 I see you! .ui mi viska do PB04 Where's Erin? .ue la .erin. cu zvati vi ma PB05 There she is! .ua la .erin. cu zvati vi tu PB06 I see Erin! .ui mi viska la .erin. PB07 Where's the baby? .ue le cifnu cu zvati vi ma PB08 There's the baby! .ua le cifnu cu zvati vi tu PB09 I see the baby! .ui mi viska le cifnu PB10 Where is your mama? .ue ledo mamta cu zvati vi ma PB11 Where is she? ledo mamta goi ko'a pau ko'a zvati vi ma PB12 Can you see her? do xu viska ko'a PB13 There she is! .ua ko'a zvati vi tu PB14 I'm your mother. mi mamta do PB15 Here I am! mi zvati vi ti Of course, PB10-PB15 may be modified so as to specify a caretaker other than the mother: father = le patfu sister = le mensi brother = le bruna cousin = le tamne aunt / uncle = le famti elder = le dzena grandmother = le mamymamta / le pafmamta grandfather = le mampa'u / le pafpa'u nanny / babysitter = le verku'i wet-nurse = le cifku'i family friend = le lanzu pendo housekeeper = le zdaku'i le jvoste defines {verku'i} as wet-nurse, but I feel rather strongly that this term is better suited for a nanny or babysitter. For wet-nurse, I would suggest {ladydu'a cifku'i}. If a shorter word is desirable, I'd suggest {cifku'i} for wet-nurse, & {verku'i} for nanny or babysitter. Any comments, criticisms & suggestions would be greatly appreciated. co'omi'e markl.