In the twenty-first month imitative attempts of this kind became more frequent; but singularly enough the babbling--from the eighty-ninth week on--became different. Before this time vowels were predominant, now more _consonants_ are produced. When something is said for the child to reproduce that presents insuperable difficulties of articulation, then he moves tongue and lips in a marvelous fashion, and often says _ptoe-ptoe_, _pt-pt_, and _verlapp_, also _dla-dla_, without meaning, no matter what was the form of the word pronounced to him. In such practice there often appears likewise a wilfulness, showing itself in inarticulate sounds and the shaking of the head, even when it is merely the repetition of easy like-syllabled words that is desired. Hence, in the case of new words, it is more difficult than before, or is even impossible to determine whether the child _will_ not or whether he _can_ not reproduce them. Words of unlike syllables are not repeated at all, not even "bitte." In place of "danke" are heard _dang-gee_ and _dank-kee_; the former favorite _dakkn_ is almost never heard. In most of the attempts at sound imitation, the tendency to the doubling of syllables is worthy of notice. I say "bi," and the answer is _bibi_; then I say "te," and the answer is _te-te_. If I say "bi-te," the answer is likewise _bibi_; a single time only, in spite of daily trial, the answer was _bi-te_, as if by oversight. This doubling of syllables, involuntary and surely contrary to the will of the child, stands in remarkable contrast with the indolence he commonly shows in reproducing anything said, even when the fault is not to be charged to teasing, stubbornness, or inability. The child then finds more gratification in other movements than those of the muscles of speech. The babbling only, abounding in consonants, yields him great pleasure, particularly when it is laughed at, although it remains wholly void of meaning as language. Yet _bibi_, like _baebae_, for "bitte," is correctly used by the child of his own accord.