Rituals and Meanings—The Emergence of Mother-Child Communication

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
—LEWIS CARROLL, Through the Looking Glass

IN THE UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD OF CARROLL'S STORY, HUMPTY Dumpty could afford to neglect two important facts: (1) he learned his words from someone else; and (2) his words are useless if they do not allow him to communicate—at least with himself, if no one else.

But where do words come from? The psychoanalytic literature has recently seen several contributions to this discussion (e.g., Call, 1980); (Galenson et al., 1980); (Edgcumbe, 1981). We are beginning to view communication from a developmental perspective, much as Anna Freud (1965) has outlined the developmental lines of several other aspects of normal psychological functioning.