Prattle
(Tantum Collins: The First Two Years)

Tantum Stuart Collins -- known to friends and family as Ted - was born in New York City at 1pm on June 9th 1990. Starting soon after his birth I recorded him almost daily on my trusty Sony D6 "Professional Walkman". My intention was to document the evolution of his speech -- from abstract sound reflecting purely biological imperatives, to full-fledged linguistic representation -- as a sequence of tracks on a CD. Sadly, the practical details of fatherhood pushed the editing and compilation to the back of the closet, and then into a series of cardboard boxes as I schlepped my growing family around the world. But procrastination was offset by the increasing affordability and efficiency of digital editing, and the curves crossed just in time to prepare a gift for his 21st birthday. A CD now seems almost as quaint as a 78 in the age of file sharing, so this url should do nicely.

To those who know Ted it will come as a shock to learn that he didn't speak until quite late (he's been making up for lost time ever since). His babble gradually increased in articulation over the first six months -- continuos crying sounds were cut up, shaped and filtered as if by an analog synthesizer -- he was experimenting with sound: clicks, raspberries, gargling, squeaks, rhythmic patterns. In his 8th month (in the midst of Desert Storm) you can hear a distinct "mama" (track 49) and "dada" (tr. 53), soon followed by "nana" (tr. 58). This small set of words formed an armature around which Ted wrapped more vocal experiments, assembling strings of noises in imitation of adult sentence shape.

Then there were endless months of his "universal question sound": a drawn out, rising "uhhhhhhh?" that perhaps presaged his later natural affinity for Mandarin, with its rising and falling tones (see Tracks 76 and 84). He was querying us for vocabulary. It was clear by the end of his first year that he understood almost everything we said, even if his responses echoed precious few actual words.

Then in January, 1992 (his 20th month), words started tumbling out: "bye", "on/off" (applied by our binary baby to anything with a switch: lights, tape recorder, toys), "moose", "bus", "ball", "moon", "why?", and the inevitable "mine". You can detect in his voice the smug satisfaction of making himself understood, but also the palpable physical pleasure of drawing out a word like "moose" (tr. 99). Listening to these later tracks still brings both a smile to my lips and a tear to my eye. By the end of January he could identify colors and follow requests involving a sequence of actions. By March he was counting.

My obsessive recording ended by April 1992. Ted had finally reached the point where he could express himself in words, so it seemed like a natural place to stop. Moreover, I had just accepted the position of Artistic Director of STEIM in Amsterdam, and after a decade in our ramshackle Bleecker Street loft the time had come to pack up and move -- a task that kept me away from my Sony for several months. I continued to make audio recordings from time to time throughout Ted's childhood in Amsterdam and Berlin, and of our daughter Charlotte as well after she was born, but as a family we relied increasingly on video to document our kids' development.

I hope that these audio files have a value that goes beyond familial nostalgia -- to linguists, developmental psychologists, other parents, even consumers of sound art. I had originally imagined the final result to be like a time lapse film of a flower blooming, but sound just doesn't work the same way as pictures -- these 116 tracks take too much time: I can edit 14 hours of cassettes down to an hour, but I can't compress two years down to a minute. You'll need a little patience (the essential parenting skill anyway).

June 1990 -- Month 1
In Ted's first month in our loft on Bleecker at Bowery most of his vocal sounds were directly related to figuring out breathing and getting our attention: hiccups, gurgles, snoring, grunting, crying. By the end of the month you can hear a little articulation in the stream of sound.
Track 1 A pre-echo: an ultrasound of Ted's heartbeat, a few days before his birth.
Track 2 Ted's first recording in free air, he's one week old and has hiccups.
Track 3 Crying.
Track 4 Articulated puffing.
Track 5 Breathing in his sleep.
Track 6 More hiccups.
Track 7 Cry and snort.
Track 8 Quiet grunts and pants.
Track 9 Hiccups.
Track 10 Grunts.
Track 11 Cries, more articulated.

July 1990 -- Month 2
Track 12 Articulated panting.

August 1990 -- Month 3
In West Falmouth on Cape Cod. More articulation of the sound stream. Mimicking of the shape of adult speech. Talking to himself while he "works" (trying to push himself up from his belly) or plays with toys. Laughter.
Track 13 Raising himself up from prone.
Track 14 Much more articulated than earlier.
Track 15 Some mimicking.
Track 16
Track 17
Track 18 Kissy noises, laughter.
Track 19 Long string.
Track 20 Long string, more articulated.
Track 21 Grunting, laughter.
Track 22
Track 23 Articulated.

September 1990 -- Month 4
More vocalizing while working/playing. Longer articulated strings. Uses hand or foot as a mute.
Track 24
Track 25 Sneeze.
Track 26 The beginning of vowel distinction.
Track 27
Track 28 Foot-in-mouth game.
Track 29 Playing with a bag.
Track 30 Rolling over.
Track 31
Track 32
Track 33 Hand in mouth.
Track 34 More hand in mouth.

October 1990 -- Month 5
Track 35 Gurgles.
Track 36
Track 37
Track 38 Gargles,
Track 39 Cooing and crying.
Track 40 Giggling.
Track 41 Sing-song.

November 1990 -- Month 6
Track 42 Sing-song.
Track 43
Track 44 Puffing.
Track 45 Laughing.

December 1990 -- Month 7
Track 46 Snoring.
Track 47 Working.
Track 48 Squeeking.

January 1991 -- Month 8
Operation Desert Storm ("restoring Kuwait's rightful dictator"), and our parental hormones drive us out of NYC for the idyllic (if bleak) shelter of Cape Cod in winter. Ted's first clear words emerge: "mama" and "dada". We make the impractical decision to buy a vacation house of our own in West Falmouth.
Track 49 "Mama".
Track 50 Hiccups and "mama".
Track 51 "Mama" variations.
Track 52 "Mama" in response to my question, plus "dada".
Track 53 "Dada".
Track 54 String with "dada" and "daddy".

February 1991 -- Month 9
Experimenting with strings of sputtering sounds leading in and out of a few recognizable words (mama, dada). Tongue clicking (my linguist brother observed at the time that every baby goes through a tongue-clicking phase, but only one language group -- in South Africa -- makes use of them.)
Track 55 Sputters.
Track 56 Ga-goo, extended.
Track 57 Tongue clicks.
Track 58 "Nana."

March 1991 -- Month 10
More clicking. Experimenting with variations on "mama" and "dada." Sometimes responds to egging on from his parents.
Track 59 A cold in the nose.
Track 60 Clicks and "dada" variations, prodded by parents.
Track 61 "Mama" variations.
Track 62 "Dada" variations.
Track 63 "Dada" variations.

April 1991 -- Month 11
Track 64 Virtuosic clicking.
Track 65
Track 66 Growling.
Track 67 "Da" variations.

May 1991 -- Month 12
The vowels come out.
Track 68 Vowels.
Track 69 Babbling while he works.
Track 70 Sing-song.

June 1991 -- Month 13
Track 71 "Dada" and "mama" variations.
Track 72 Clicks, "dada" and laughter.
Track 73 Working at something.

July 1991 -- Month 14
Raspberries. Birth of the rising "uhhhhhh?" universal question sound.
Track 74 Raspberries.
Track 75 Gub-gub.
Track 76 "Uhhhhhhh?"
Track 77 Playing with a wagon.

August 1991 -- Month 15
No recordings.

September 1991 -- Month 16
Track 78 Car-driving sounds.
Track 79 Raspberries.

October 1991 -- Month 17
Track 80 Raspberries and work sounds.

November 1991 -- Month 18
Things are changing fast. Q&A with adults using the "uhhhh?". Sentence-like articulation of sound streams.
Track 81 Raspberries, breathy whispers.
Track 82 "D", "b" and "t" variations.
Track 83 Sing-song.
Track 84 Q&A with parents.
Track 85
Track 86 "Here we go"?
Track 87 Pseudo sentences.
Track 88 A parade of sound effects.

December 1991 -- Month 19
We take Ted to Amsterdam, where we stay at STEIM for a month.
Track 89 Dog & cat.
Track 90 "Uh-ooh".
Track 91 "Minou" (his beloved Dutch babysitter).
Track 92 "uhhhhh?"

January 1992 -- Month 20
Back home on Bleecker Street. Lots of new words: "bye", "on/off" for anything with a switch, "moose" (a marionette that hung over his changing table), "bus", "ball", "yeah", "moon", "book", "why?", "my", "mine". Responds to requests. Can identify colors by the end of the month.
Track 93 "Bye".
Track 94 "Off/on".
Track 95 "Moose" and "Bus".
Track 96 "On/off" (microphone w/LED).
Track 97 "On/off" (light).
Track 98 Tickling laughter.
Track 99 "Moose".
Track 100 "My" and "mine".
Track 101 Cat and dog.
Track 102 "Ball", "yeah".
Track 103 Q&A, "moon", "wow-wee".
Track 104 "Book".
Track 105 "Why daddy? Mine!".
Track 106 "Moose", "Up! Up!".
Track 107 "Daddy".
Track 108 Putting balls inside his "Bolide" push-car.
Track 109 Carries sweater to daddy in response to request.
Track 110 "Mine" confrontation, identifies colors.

February 1992 -- Month 21
No recordings.

March 1992 -- Month 22
We take Ted to meet the family in Chile. More words: "Baby" (his word for himself, since "Teddy" and "Daddy" sound too much alike), "juice", "please", "auto", "milk", "Malte" (his uncle), "Huicha" (his aunt -- comes out sounding like a hiccup). Counting his beloved cars sets him on the road to mathematics.
Track 111 "Baby".
Track 112 "Juice", "please".
Track 113 Counting "autos".
Track 114 "Auto", "baby".
Track 115 Q&A about relatives: "Huicha", "Malte", "Nana".
Track 116 "Hot", "all done".

And that's the end of the tapes. As Ted said, "all done". Happy Birthday, my beautiful, brilliant, babbling boy.

Chicago, June 9, 2011