, five, are confounded with one
another.

A _question_ has not yet been uttered by the child. The frequent _ist
das_ signifies merely "das ist," or it is the echo of the oft-heard
question, "Was ist das?" and is uttered without the tone of
interrogation. The articles are not used at all yet; at any rate, if
used, they are merely imitated without understanding.

The defects of articulation are now less striking, but only very slowly
does the correct and distinct pronunciation take the place of the
erroneous and indistinct. We still have regularly:

_buecher-rank_ for Buecherschrank (book-case).
_frai takkee_ " Fraeulein Starke (Miss Starke).
_[=e]r[)e]_, _tseer_ " Schere (shears).
_raib[)e]_, _raiben_ " Schreiben (u. Zeichnen) (write or draw).
_nur_ " Schnur (string).
_neiderin_ " Schneiderin (tailoress).
_dsoen_ (also _schoen_) " schoen (pretty).
_lafen_ " schlafen (sleep).
_pucken_ " spucken (spit).
_dsehen_ (also _sehen_) " sehen (see).

The sounds "sch" and "sch" in the "st" as well as in the "sp"
("schneiden, Spiel") are often omitted without any substitute
(_naid[)a]_, _taign_, _piel_); more seldom their place is supplied
by "s," as in _swer_ = "schwer" for "muede." Yet _ks_, _ts_ are often
given with purity in _bex_, _bux_, _Axl_. The last word is often
pronounced _Ats[)e]l_ and _Atsli_ (heard by him as "Axeli"), very
rarely _Akkl_; in "Aufziehen" the "z" is almost always correctly
reproduced. Further, we still have

_locotiwe_ for Locomotive.
_nepf_ " Knoepfe (buttons).
_ann-nepf_ " anknoepfen.
_nits_ " nichts (nothing).

"Milch" is now permanently named correctly; no longer _mimi_, _mich_;
Wasser, _wassa_, no longer _watja_. But "gefaehrlich" is called
_faehrlich_; "getrunken," _trunken_.

The twenty-eighth month is characterized by a rapid increase of
activity in the formation of ideas, on the one hand, and by
considerably greater certainty in the use of words, on the other.
Ambition is developed and makes itself known by a frequent _lainee_
(_allein_, alone). The child wants to undertake all sorts of things
without help. He asks for various objects interesting to him, with
the words _Ding haben_ (have the thing). That the faculty of
observation and of combination is becoming perfected, is indicat