Short Story "Bluffing"...

“Bluffing”

Genre:             Contemporary Realistic Fiction.

Setting:            The story has been set in and around Jasper National Hospital and Jasper National Park.

Characters:     Gabriella (Biology Teacher).

                        Liam (A Tourist Guide).

Author:           Gail Helgason.

‘Bluffing’ deals with the relationship of two twenty – something people and an encounter they have with a grizzly bear in Canada’s Jasper National Park. The story provides excellent examples of the use of flashback and foreshadowing.

The story consists of five scenes, which alternate from the present, where Gabriella is waiting to see Liam in the hospital, to the past scenes set three weeks earlier at a remote lake in Canada’s Jasper National Park. Much of what happens at the lake is foreshadowed in earlier scenes.

Theme of the Story:

Commitment in family life and adult relationship is the most prominent theme of the story. It also presents a picture of degrading and weakening commitment in relationship and family life in the western culture and society. Besides it hints towards the inherent dangers in trekking and hiking and indirectly warns the reader not to venture on such expeditions unprepared. The language is modern, the characters realistic, and the style is contemporary.

Technique used:         Flashback & Foreshadowing.

Flashback:

·        A device that shifts the narrative from the present to the past, usually to reveal a change in character or illustrate an important point.

·        A device that allows the writer to present events that happened before the time of the current narration or the current events in the fiction. Flashback techniques include memories, dreams, stories of the past told by characters, or even authorial sovereignty. (That is, the author might simply say, "But back in Tom's youth. . . .") Flashback is useful for exposition, to fill in the reader about a character or place, or about the background to a conflict.

Advantages:

ü  Shows a change in character or situation.

ü  Builds suspense.

ü  Illustrates an important point.

ü  Makes the story interesting.

Disadvantages:

ü  Makes the scenes in the story unclear.

ü  Creates confusion in the minds of the readers. The readers may lose track.

Foreshadowing:

·        It refers to plot technique in which a writer plans clues that hints at what is going to happen later in the plot. Foreshadowing is used to arouse reader’s curiosity, build suspense, and help prepare the reader to accept events that occur later in the story.

Advantages:

ü  Arouses curiosity and builds suspense.

ü  Prepares the readers to accept events that occur later in the story.

Disadvantages:

ü  Spoils the order of the story.

ü  Confuses the reader.

ü  Most often the clues of foreshadowing are not clear.

Examples of Flashback used in the story:

·        In the hospital when medicinal smell reminds Gabriella of the homemade cleaning solution she prepared at Liam’s insistence.

·        While waiting in the hospital couch, she remembers the morning three weeks ago when she and Liam had taken a hike to the lake.

·        When she sees the Merlin from the hospital window it reminds her of how she had taught Liam to spot wildlife at the Pyramid Bench. Etc.

Examples of Foreshadow used in the story:

·        In the beginning when Gabriella is running to the Jasper Hospital, the reader doesn’t know why she is going there it arouses curiosity in the reader to read further to know more.

·        The partial imprints of expensive trademark left by Liam’s boots on the ground leads us to understand that he is extravagant.

·        “That wasn’t the same as telling the whole story. How could she, when it still wasn’t clear?” It gives the readers a clue that there is something believed in the story.

·        Liam’s bluff to the two young hikers about the Grizzly. Etc.

Irony:

 A mode of expression, through words (verbal irony) or events (irony of situation), conveying a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation. A writer may say the opposite of what he means, create a reversal between expectation and its fulfillment, or give the audience knowledge that a character lacks, making the character's words have meaning to the audience not perceived by the character. In verbal irony, the writer's meaning or even his attitude may be different from what he says:

Conflict:         Gabriella versus Liam - Man versus Man

Gabriella versus Gabriella - Man versus Man [Self]

Liam and Gabriella versus the Grizzly - Man versus Nature

Point of view:          Third person limited. It is limited to Gabriella and anything known about Liam is filtered through Gabriella’s perceptions.

Plot summary of the Story:

The story primarily deals with the theme of commitment in relationship and in family life. The story is about Liam and Gabriella who are staying together in relationship. Gabriella and Liam are living together in the same rented house, though not married. Gabriella is a teacher who can’t afford to rent the house all by her. The rent is high and for time being, she can make both ends meet as, Liam is sharing the rent with her. However, Liam’s stay with her is uncertain as most of the time he is away on hiking expeditions. Moreover, the time has come for Gabriella to sign a lease as a tenant for one more year. The land owner holds her responsible for signing the lease. She needs commitment from Liam to stay with her and share the rent for another one year at least. She is hesitant to ask him directly in the crowded place where they are staying. Gabriella wants some privacy where she can freely talk to Liam and know his further plan. So she arranges a hike with Liam to Jasper Lake.

Liam is unpredictable and a difficult person to understand. Gabriella on the other hand is committed in the beginning and wants to continue her living with Liam. But it is one sided. Their relationship can’t be strong unless there is commitment from both the sides. At time Gabriella feels Liam is coming closer to her through his activities such as giving astonishing surprises for her. She is encouraged further when Liam consents to go for the hike along with her for the day.

The day they start hiking towards the lake, everything seems to be conducive. As they mount upward towards the lake they are thrilled by the sight of the valley down below. Gabriella teaches Liam about wild life, they see on the way. Liam, though an egoist starts learning a great deal about wild life, the day he associated himself with Gabriella. The duo have few amazing experiences as they ascend: Liam bluffs and discourages tourists the young tourists form going to the lake. The youngsters are frightened when they are informed that the lake is infested with Grizzly bears. This was the false alarm given by Liam as he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone, once they reach the lake.

Both reach the lake by noon and settle down for lunch. Liam gives a pleasant surprise to Gabriella by taking out some scrumptious food items from his lunch pack. Gabriella to intends to surprise him with egg sandwiches, she has brought. Gabriella is encouraged by all the favorable things she experiences at this juncture. Just the, Liam discloses his plan to go to South Mexico along with Clive for three months during winter. This news shattered her dreams of signing the lease accord. Gabriella starts feeling helpless and is angry. Annoyed, she simply walks away without uttering a word to Liam. At one instance she turns back and spots Liam pursuing her. Gabriella doesn’t pay any heed to him and keeps on walking until she comes face to face with a Grizzly bear standing just twenty paces away. Meanwhile Liam unaware of the situation approaches from behind and calls her.

Gabriella cautions him not to come forward but to go back as slowly as possible. She freezes in the same spot. The Grizzly watches her movements. Gabriella knows that if she runs, the Grizzly will come and pounce upon her. At no cost she could afford to do this. Liam on the other hand, didn’t listen to her and starts retreating. The bear instead of pouncing on Gabriella started pursuing Liam. She on the other hand thought the bear was coming straight for her. Gabriella fell on the ground and bundled herself in order to protect her vital organs, where upon she only felt the bear hurtling past her. The rest of the story remained unknown to her until she met Liam.

Later she came to know that Liam had been attacked by the bear. He had been airlifted and hospitalized. No major damage had been done to his vital organs. However his face was badly bruised with plenty of cuts all over his face and body. Liam was under medication for three weeks. After three weeks when Gabriella when to the hospital to meet Liam, his bandage was to be removed. Finally, when Gabriella sees Liam’s face she was horrified by the sight and was unable to look straight into his face. Liam puts a false smile on his face and says that had sacrificed his life for her. Gabriella on the other hand feels he is bluffing. She too keeps smiling at him as long as she was present there. This she does in order to make him believe that inwardly she is hurt and had no faith in him. Gabriella pays backs Liam’s insincerity by simply smiling as a mere formality.

The whole story boils down to the commitment, sincerity, and attitude of young couple before marriage. Commitment plays an important role in the life of young couples. In this story we don’t see any commitment either on the part of Liam or Gabriella. Such couples can never make their marital life meaningful.

Themes Explored in the Story:

Commitment in family life and adult relationship is the most prominent theme of the story. It also presents a picture of degrading and weakening commitment in relationship and family life in the western culture and society. Besides it hints towards the inherent dangers in trekking and hiking and indirectly warns the reader not to venture on such expeditions unprepared.

Justification of the Title:

Literally, Bluffing means and act of pretension and trying to show something different from the reality. In other words it can also be explained as deceiving someone by pretending. A careful analysis of the story reveals that it is full with bluffing. Both the major characters – Liam and Gabriella – are bluffing to each other in the story .Gabriella bluffed Liam by saying that she liked hiking in order to take him to lake so that she could discuss about the lease renewal. On the way to Lake Liam bluffed those two young men by telling the false story about the Grizzly which had killed an Elk. We find Gabriella bluffing to the safety specialists though she herself was not very clear about all that had happened at the lake. Again we find her bluffing to some extent when she says that she was coming to the hospital to see Liam every day. Knowing that she was a teacher and that Liam could not have been sleeping all three weeks we cannot fully believe that she was coming every day.

And finally we find Liam bluffing to Gabriella that he had run away to gain the attention of the grizzly and save her from the attack. We cannot be fully convinced whether he is bluffing or telling the truth. Maybe he did as he claimed or maybe he is simply bluffing. But we see the height of bluffing when we find Gabriella pulling her chair close to Liam, hold his hand and give him a broad smile though she is finds it very difficult to believe what Liam had said and also to bear the sight of his horribly scarred face. Thus we see that the whole story is filled with bluffing of various kinds and degrees and hence the title of this story is very much suitable to its content and theme. 

Drama for BHSEC....

“Episode in the Life of an Author” - One Act Play

Form:                            One Act Play

Genre:                            Drama

Sub-genre:                     Absurdist farce (with features of the ‘theatre of the absurd’)

Author:                          Jean Anouilh (Anh’ wee)

Nationality:                    French

Gender:                         Male

Birth:                             June 23, 1910 Bordeaux, France

Death:                            October 3, 1987 Lausanne, Switzerland

The play is classified by the author under:      

Pieces roses (theme explored with sparkling wit and comedy).

‘The play tries to substantiate the view that ‘the primary function of the theatre was, is and forever will be entertainment.’

Rhetorical Devices used in the play:                

Satire, Irony, Symbols, Wit & Comedy.

Social values explored: 
                    Love, Marital life (marriage), Friendship, Family bond, other relationships,jobs & ethics.

SYMBOLS USED IN THE PLAY:

Symbols play an integral part of communicating the writer's vision to the play, in Episode in the Life of the Author the following symbols are used:

False Nose

All the characters in the play are wearing false noses and this is an indispensable part of the play. The false noses here symbolize the absurd nature of the play. More than anything Anouilh has used the false noses for all characters to show the purpose of absurd plays. The primary function of the theatre is entertainment and false noses actually justify this purpose and add a comic element to the characters. It also symbolizes that human beings no matter what they consider themselves to be, after all they are just players on the stage of the world and that their purposes of living are often falsified through the choice of their own lenses. 

  

The Leak

The leak in the play is symbolic of two important elements. Absurd plays often contradict the notion that there is always a reason behind the occurrence of things and events in our everyday life. The leak is used to symbolize that the way events and incidents happen sometimes are beyond logic and a rational explanation. It also highlights the power of myths and miracles that impact our life in an inexplicable way.

The Boots

La Surette approaches the author for the money to pay for the gas bill but later he places more importance on the boots than the money. The boots here symbolize the absurd desires of human beings. Human beings have unlimited desires and wants but there is a lack of rational explanation for these desires.

We do not know why we want some things and we often do not know why we do not want some other things in life.

The Weeping Maid

Leonie, the maid is a minor character who is a member of the author’s house. She ushers all the visitors and the guests who come with their problems to the author. But all the while, she is found to be weeping throughout the play. A certain degree of suspense is maintained by Anouilh, until towards the end when we are informed that she had been weeping because she had become pregnant. Both the Author and Ardele are oblivious of her pregnancy and pay no heed to her sufferings. She is left on her own to fight her own battles. Her weeping is symbolic of the physical and mental sufferings that people go through in the walks of their daily life. It is also suggestive of how other people desert us in times of distress to face the problems of our own life although we have been living under the same roof. Poor people like the maid are exploited by powerful men; their woes unheard, their pains undivided and left to strive and struggle on their own.

The Falling Picture

The falling picture symbolizes:

Ø  The wife’s temperament: Whenever Ardele leaves the study slamming the door, the picture falls down. It happens from the beginning of the play whenever she quarrels with her husband. The falling picture here shows that Ardele is a short tempered lady.

Ø  The problems of marital life: It clearly reveals in the play the theme that if the husband and the wife do not have mutual trust then there will be quarrels and unrest in the house.

Ø  The author’s character as a patient man: In the play Ardele addresses the Author angrily for three times and on all these occasion her slamming the door makes the picture to fall down. Whenever it happens the Author calmly picks it up and hangs it back without showing ill temper towards his wife. This clearly shows that the Author is a very patient, cool and composed man with immense tolerance.  

Ø  To add a comic element to the play amidst the tensions of the author’s marital life: Whenever Ardele and the Author quarrel the scene becomes serious, but in the middle of this seriousness the falling picture gives opportunity to the audience to laugh at it.

Ø  Disorder and chaos: At the end of the play the ceiling collapses and cascades of water flows all over the room, even the pictures fall down from the walls as well, here the falling picture symbolises disorder and chaos (confusion) in the scene.

Some Satirical elements in the Play:

Satire on Media: In its Satire on Media madame Bessarabo is the target. She has come all the way from Rumania to France just to interview the Author about his last play and especially to know what he feels about Love, but often she is seen to deviate from the topic and discuss about other unimportant matters.

This particular situation also  shows that the media can go to any length/extent for a sensational story. Here the media has been portrayed as taking undue advantage over the Author's private affairs and weakness.

Satire on celebrities: The celebrities are satired through the character of the Author. Their behaviors are also ridiculed towards the end of the play where the Author is no more calm and behaves agitated.  

Elements of Absurdity in the play:

ü  The play follows unconventional plot structures, theme and dialogues. Neither the scenes nor the time is put properly in the play. Conventional norms have been forgone to purposefully comment on the purposelessness and the meaninglessness of human existence. 

The events in this play are not logically connected to each other, and to an average audience, meaningless.

ü  The arrangement and the timing of events are haphazard. For instance Ardele pops into the scene irregularly at her own discretion and we do not know whether she is present in the house at other times when the author in engaged with other characters. Her irregular interruptions make no sense at all.

ü  The interview is cut short several times with interventions from other characters but when they continue again they begin as if they have progressed a lot actually when nothing has been achieved.

ü  The phone calls especially Gustave’s, consume a significant amount of time. The anecdotes he relates to the author has no relevancy to the author, he seems least bothered about what Gustave is saying. Nonetheless from the other end we have Gustave putting his heart and soul in explaining everything he has to offer.

ü  The maid’s pregnancy is one that is very difficult to understand.

ü  The actions of the characters are senseless, useless and absurd. The author is bewildered, troubled, and strangely threatened by a large number of visitors who each bring a bag of problems to him.. He has no control over what is happening in his life or his house. The final scene where he is shouting for everyone to be calm while he himself is losing control shows him as a true absurd protagonist.

ü  Distrust of language as a means of communication: Language in Episode in the Life an Author is shown as an unreliable and insufficient tool of communication; the broken dialogues and conversation between Ardele and the unknown woman (Leon’s wife), the interview between Madam Bessarabo and the Author are some examples of this use of language. In this way, conventional speech seems to act as a barrier between the characters rather than serve as a means of communication.

Background:

Episode in the life of an author is an excellent example of Jean Anouilh’s individualistic style that is eminently entertaining and irresistibly theatrical. It is humorous in its absurdity and its challenges the traditional notions of plot, character development and resolution of conflict. It has characters who enter, leave and enter again as they seek order in their lives from the art of author. They seem dependent on him to rescue them from the turmoil of their lives. Some are green with envy of the earlier characters which the author created because they live in a play which is ordered. In this sense, they want him to write stories of their lives and, indeed, the play can be seen as the struggle an author goes through as a piece is written. It is as absurd drama.

The play has thirteen characters and requires little by way sets and costumes except false noses for everybody. It is an experimental play.

The language is simple and readily accessible to everyone. It challenges our ideas of order in the world and in our everyday lives. The play authenticates the view that the primary function of the theatre is entertainment.

The Theatre of the Absurd

The theatre of the Absurd is an experimental theatrical style which came into prominence after World War II in the works of writers such as Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet etc. Many absurdist plays contain grotesque (ugly) and ludicrous (comical) elements. The term ‘Absurd’ as applied to this moment carries the sense given to it by the thinkers. All these writers feel that man is “Out of Harmony” and man always finds himself in exile in a meaningless universe. The term ‘Absurd’ is also applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in the universe without meaning or value.

The “Theatre of the Absurd” is a term coined by Hungarian-born critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his 1962 book on the subject. The term refers to a particular type of play which first became popular during the 1950s and 1960s and which presented on stage the philosophy articulated by French philosopher Albert Camus in his 1942 essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, in which he defines the human condition as basically meaningless.

One of the most important aspects of absurd drama is its distrust of language as a means of communication. Language, it seems to say, has become nothing but a vehicle for conventionalized, stereotyped, meaningless exchanges. Dr. Culik explains, “Words failed to express the essence of human experience, not being able to penetrate beyond its surface. The Theatre of the Absurd constituted first and foremost an onslaught on language, showing it as a very unreliable and insufficient tool of communication. Absurd drama uses conventionalized speech, clichés, slogans and technical jargon, which it distorts, parodies and breaks down. By ridiculing conventionalized and stereotyped speech patterns, the Theatre of the Absurd tries to make people aware of the possibility of going beyond everyday speech conventions and communicating more authentically.”

Meaning of Farce:

A sub- genre of the “Theatre of the Absurd”; Farce is a type of comedy designed to provoke laughter. Farce is a type of comedy written with a sole intention to provoke hearty laughter among the audience without weighing them down with any other moral or ethical burden in the parlance of theatre. To do so it commonly employs highly exaggerated or caricatured types of characters and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. Besides it also makes free use of sexual mix-ups, broad verbal humour, and physical bustle and horseplay. Farce was a component in the comic episodes in medieval miracle plays. In the enduring English drama, farce is usually an episode in a more complex form of comedy.

Theme of the Play:

The play keenly follows the trends and techniques of the theme of absurdity which deals with the theme of helplessness and confusion of human beings in the modern world. The whole play appears to be full with disorder, chaos and illogical sequence of events upon which no one has any control. The protagonist (the Author) himself is in deep predicament from various angles. And to worsen the matter further all other characters come to seek consolation and solution to their problems from the Author. They all appear to be very much dependent on the Author as they all want the Author to solve their problems and troubles.

Important Features of Absurd Drama:

ü  It has unusual plot structure, theme, dialogues and actions which makes it different from other traditional plays.

ü  The events and actions are illogical, senseless, often useless, confusing, absurd and totally beyond the understanding of the common audience.

ü  Often situations are funny absurd and often there is a lack of sequence of events. Unlike the other regular plays absurd plays are the play of situations rather than the play of sequential events.

ü  The characters are often caught in a chaotic situation and find it very difficult to understand its place in the universe. They are often confused and under lots of meaningless pressures and tensions. Often the inadequacy of language for communication is also exposed and it is shown that language is an unreliable and insufficient tool of communication. In this way, conventional speech seems to act as a barrier between the characters rather than serve as a means of communication.

More on "Nature of Language"

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Theorists

·         Cognitive - Jean Piaget - can only understand language when you understand concept (e.g. can talk in past tense when you know about time)

·         Behaviourist - Skinner –Language is learned through imitation - doesn't explain where new sentences come from.      The Behaviorists believe that language learning is a much more sophisticated process. The child is born with an empty state of mind and language items are written on that mental state as the child grows and experiences the world to which it is exposed.

·         Nativist - Chomsky - Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - works out what is/isn't acceptable language use using innate programmed patterns (which are general). Exact rules learnt through trial and error. His theory supports the fact that children around the world seem to develop at a similar pace, irrespective of race/culture/mother tongue. (This also 'defies' Skinner's model) Also, the fact that there is a universal grammar amongst all languages of the world. & the fact that children consistently create new forms of language that they would not have heard before.

The Rationalists believe that Language learning is a sophisticated process. The child is born with all the facilities to learn the language. The linguistic ability is inherent in the mind of the child. All the child does is discover and test.

·         Conversely, John Macnamara - said that rather than having an in-built language device, children have an innate capacity to read meaning into social situations. It is this capacity that makes them capable of understanding and learning language, not the LAD.

·         Interactive - caretaker, motherese etc - slower pace than adult convo, simplified, repetition, short sentences, often caretaker asking 'where is___?', 'that's a___', tag questions to involve child ('isn't it?')

·         Example for importance of social interaction: Bard and Sachs. Studied a boy called 'Jim', who was son of two deaf parents. Although he was exposed to TV and radio, his speech development was severely retarded until he attended sessions with a speech therapist --> hence implying that human interaction is necessary, as Jim was obviously ready to talk, but without the social interaction with his therapist, he was unable to do so.

·         Katherine Nelson - found that 60% of children's early word phrases contained nouns, then verbs, pre-mods and phatic and she also said that the nouns were more commonly things that surrounded the children i.e ball, mum, cat. Nelson also said that in Re-casts (e.g. Ben - "me ball" mum - "pass me the ball") children whose sentences were re-cast performed better at imitating sentences

·         Halliday is just the functions of child language, I remember them like RRIIIPH, like rest in peace:

·         Representational - "I've got something to show you" - language showing how they feel, declarative

·         Regulatory - "Do as I tell you" - requesting/asking for things

·         Instrumental - "I want"- expressing needs/wants

·         Interactional - "Me and you" - speaking to other, establishing personal contact

·         Imaginative - "Let's pretend" - imaginative language, used with play, to create imaginary world. Crystal talks of 'phonological' function as playing with sound.

·         Personal - "Here I come"- child expresses their feelings/expressing personal preferences

·         Heuristic - "Tell me why"- uses language to explore environment/ seeking information

·         Most commonly used in children's language is instrumental and regulatory, which are learnt, along with interactional and personal, at a young age. Representational is used by 6-8+ year olds.

·         Divine Theory: Some theorists are of the opinion that language learning is a divine process. According to them language learning is a gift from God and is a divine faculty.

Features of child language acquisition:

·         Holophrases - one word (12-18mths), then two-word stage (after 18mths), then telegraphic speech (after 2yrs) - sometimes grammatically correct but omit determiners like 'a' and 'the'

·         Underextension - 'car' only for family car, but not other cars

·         Overextension - 'car' for tractor, van, etc

·         Fis phenomenon - Berko and Brown - child pronounces fish as fis but when a parent asks if it is a fis, the child says no - when asked if it's a fish, child says yes. can understand a word without being able to pronounce it - comprehension before speech

·         Simplification - deletion, substitution

·         Intonation - Cruttenden - found children find it harder to recognise intonation

·         Questions - inflection often used at first to show it's a question, then question words learnt during 2nd yr, firstly what and where, then why, how and who. results in 'where daddy gone?' as they've not learnt auxiliary verb, 'has'. auxiliary verbs learnt 3rd yr, and how to form qus is learnt too (reverse subject and verb order). 'joe is here' --> 'is joe here?' but wh- words not always inverted correctly - 'why joe isn't here?' (hehe plagiarised my revision book for the examples, sorry!)

·         Critical period for learning - Cases about twins who were kept locked up by their family, but they were rescued young so developed normally. Feral children like Genie, who was forced not to talk, and hence only made limited lang progress as she is thought to have missed the critical period for learning lang. Two girls were found wolves in a wolves' den and had trouble learning to speak etc [1] "After three years, Kamala had mastered a small vocabulary of about a dozen words. After several more years, her vocabulary had increased to about 40.To compare, a normal two-year-old child, at the peak of its language learning, would find it easy to pick up 40 new words in a single week. Also, Kamala's words were only partly-formed and her grammar stilted"

·         Stages of negatives:

·         Aged 0-15months - Gestures are used to indicate a negative

·         15-18months - single words "no" "not" are used

·         2-2 1/2 yrs - "no" and "not" are used either at the beginning or end of a sentence e.g. "no eat" "going not"

·         3yrs - negatives are used with the correct syntax i.e. intergrated into the sentence

·         4/5/6yrs - more subtle negatives i.e hardly, are used, more "n't"'s as well, "can't" "won't" etc. Implied negatives are understood, i.e. "we'll go later"

·         Look at how much is said by each person, who controls what is being said, who takes the lead, pragmatics, social context, as well as the actual things that are being said

Stages of Language Acquisition:

•         Prenatal

–        Responsivity to human voices

•         First 6 months

–        Cooing – cooing of infants around the world, including deaf infants, is indistinguishable across babies and across languages

•         After 6 months

–        Babbling – comprises the distinct phonemes that characterize the primary language of the infant; deaf children can not babble

•         1 to 3 years of age

–        One-word utterances, telegraphic speech

–        Telegraphic speech – describes two- or three-word utterances

–        Overextension errors  (e.g. general term for man is “Dada”)

•         3 to 4 years

–        Expansion of vocabulary

–        Overregularization (using regular inflection for irregular verbs e.g. goed)

•         4 years

–        Basic adult sentence structure

–        Vocabulary continues to increase