You say:
A grown-up “Surely I can
moan with toothache & I can moan without toothache, so why
shouldn't
the child be able it be so with the
child?
Of course I only see
&
hear the child
's behaviour but from my own experience I know
what toothache is (
like) I know
toothache apart from behaviour & I am led to believe
that the others sometimes have the pains I
have”. –
The first sentence already is misleading: It
isn't the question whet
her I
can moan with
& with
out toothache,
but the point is that I
distinguish ‘moaning with toothache’ &
‘moaning without toothache’ & now we
can't go on to say that of course in the child we make the same
distinction.
In fact we don't.
We teach the child t
o use the words “I have
toothache” to replace its moans, & this was how I
myself || too was taught the expression.
How do I know that I have learnt the word
toothache to mean what they wanted me to
express?
I ought to say
I believe I have
toothache?
Now one can moan because one has pain
s or, or
e.g., one can moan on the stage.
How do I know that the child, small as it is, doesn't already
act & in this case I teach it to mean by
‘toothache’ something I don't
want || intend it to mean?