Abstract
BabyHex is a developmental language learning simulator embodied in a virtual toddler. Or rather, it’s a story masquerading as all that. You are cast as a volunteer training the simulation, pretending to engage BabyHex through basic principles of imitation, where she repeats simple words she hears, or association, where she tries to identify images and pairs image with words together as concept. She also has a motor babble function, which you can initiate and offer praise for syntactical coherence. Inevitably, the system will break down – and descend into story.