harvey language further explored
We named Harvey after Leah's grandfather, who passed away a few years before our Harvey was born. I must say, Harvey Archibald is doing the name proud; and saying it proud too, since it's constantly coming out of his mouth. His vocabulary is amazing, you see, but his syntax is still lacking, and he also doesn't use pronouns. Put those two things together and you have some serious overuse of his own name.
Obviously, he uses it to indicate possession. You don't need me to tell you what "Harvey hatty" means. That's not the most common usage, and he also mixes things up by using the "own" for things that he's excited to have: "own bed" (still), "own umbrella". Much more usual is to show desire. Of things: "Harvey juice?" "Harvey muffin?" Or of actions: "Harvey hatty on?" "Harvey more?" Sometimes his sentences can get pretty complex: this evening's "Harvey Mama Dada hatty off" mean either that he wanted me to take Leah's hat off his head. (Note that even in his mangled syntax this is probably wrong: he should have said "Harvey Mama hatty Dada off". But who can ever tell.) Other times there's no complexity at all. Pointing and grunting "Harvey! Harvey! Harvey!" pretty clearly indicates an immediate desire for an object unnamed thanks either to not knowing what it is or greed overwhelming the vocabulary centers of his brain.
It's all very fascinating to me as a parent and a student of both education and linguistics. Also I giggle every time he says "Harvey milk!" Even if it does sound more like Ahvee Muht...