Complementary balance in the use of the interrogative form by nursery school dyads

Berninger, Ginger; Garvey, Catherine

doi:10.1017/s0305000900003202

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…For the mother-child dyad, however, the story is quite different. Since adult speakers adjust their turn-taking structure to that of their conversational partner (Lennard & Bernstein 1970, Matarazzo, Wiens, Matarazzo & Saslow 1968) -as do children in conversation with each other (Berninger & Garvey 1981) -it should not prove surprising that mothers accommodate themselves to the conversational deficiencies of their children. Kaye 1977, Snow 1977.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spite of her intense motivation to interact with the child and to elicit his involvement from an early age (Brazelton, Koslowski & Main 1974, Stern 1974, the mother is faced with the child's relative disinterest and incompetence as a conversational partner (Bell 1971, Snow 1977. Since adult speakers adjust their turn-taking structure to that of their conversational partner (Lennard & Bernstein 1970, Matarazzo, Wiens, Matarazzo & Saslow 1968) -as do children in conversation with each other (Berninger & Garvey 1981) -it should not prove surprising that mothers accommodate themselves to the conversational deficiencies of their children. The primary manner of this accommodation, aside from simplicity, lowered rate of speech and redundancy, is the heavy use of questions as turn-allocation devices (Newport 1977, Snow 1972.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Child responsiveness to mother questions of varying type and presentation

Olsen-Fulero

Conforti

1983

J. Child Lang.

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Although questions vary considerably with respect to the responses appropriate to them and the motivations intrinsic to them, little attention has yet been given to the potential effects of these factors on the power of questions to perform turn-allocating and response-eliciting functions. The present study attempts to clarify how such variables as motivation, constraint, difficulty and function may affect the child's responsiveness to mother questions. Results suggest that functionally defined question types are differentiable not only by their relative power to elicit a response from the child, but also by the manner in which they are presented. Implications of these results in the context of mother–child conversation and its effects are considered.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child responsiveness to mother questions of varying type and presentation

Olsen-Fulero

Conforti

1983

J. Child Lang.

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“…Question acquisition in young children has been an important topic of continued investigation since Davis’s (1932) analyses of the development of interrogative forms and functions in early childhood English. In the past century, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to explore (1) developmental trends in interrogative forms (Berninger & Garvey, 1981; Erreich, 1984; Ervin-Tripp, 1970; Klima & Bellugi, 1966; Olsen-Fulero & Conforti, 1983; Piaget, 1926; Shatz, 1978; Tyack & Ingram, 1977); (2) the pragmatic functions of interrogatives directed at children (Loukusa, Leinonen, & Ryder, 2007; Shatz, 1979) and generated by children themselves (James & Seebach, 1982; Sachs & Devin, 1976); and (3) the development of interrogative forms and functions in first language (L1) acquisition (Clancy, 1989; Davis, 1932; James & Seebach, 1982; Meyer & Shrine, 1973; Vaidyanathan, 1988) and second language acquisition (L2) (Jackson & Bobb, 2009; Myles, Mitchell, & Hooper, 1999; Spada & Lightbown, 1993). These studies tend to conclude that children have acquired all the interrogative forms and functions of English and other European languages prior to starting school.…”

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confidence: 99%

The development of interrogative forms and functions in early childhood Cantonese

Tse

Wong

et al. 2013

First Language

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This study investigated question acquisition in Cantonese-speaking young children with a focus on the development of interrogative forms and functions. Data from a child Cantonese corpus (492 children aged 36, 48 and 60 months) were analysed. The main results were that: (1) all the interrogative forms and functions were produced by the three age groups and no age difference was found; (2) significant gender differences in favour of females were found; and (3) a significant form-function preference was obtained, with wh-and multiple questions being primarily used to seek information, and yes/no and rising tone/echo questions being largely used to request action.

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“…Mothers were less likely to respond to such utterances and when they did their responses tended not to extend the dialogue, as can be seen in the following example: There is more social exchange in mothers' interactions with older children, with older children's use of questions especially indicating a social/interactive rather than a self-eentred language use. Questions establish cooperation and exert control over the course of an interaction, encouraging more 'conversational synchrony' (Berninger & Garvey, 1981). Like reference, for instance, they attract attention but, in addition, they enable the speaker to exert control over the topic of conversation, as illustrated in these examples.…”

Section: Second-order Effects: Influence Of Older Childrenmentioning

confidence: 98%

The influence of older siblings on the language environment of young children

Woollett¹

1986

British J of Dev Psycho

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The language environment of 1–2‐year‐old children was examined (i) with mothers alone and (ii) with mothers and older siblings. The presence of older siblings reduced the amount of language mothers used, their responsiveness to younger children, and younger children's verbal contribution. More verbally able children were less affected. The presence of older siblings did not influence the linguistic interaction between mothers and younger children as measured by mean length of utterance and discourse functions. Nonetheless, there was more talk between mothers and older children than between mothers and younger children. Their language was more complex, more social/interactive, with more questions, answers and feedback and less commentary on behaviour, and made greater reference to people and events beyond those immediately present. These results indicate the extent to which aspects of mothers' and children's language are dependent on their context, raising problems when generalizing about the influence of a maternal register (motherese) on children's linguistic development. They also point to the need to consider second‐order effects; the presence of older siblings creates directly and indirectly an environment which is less sensitive but is also more stimulating and provides salient models of language which are developmentally more complex.

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Complementary balance in the use of the interrogative form by nursery school dyads

Cited by 7 publications

References 9 publications

Child responsiveness to mother questions of varying type and presentation

Child responsiveness to mother questions of varying type and presentation

The development of interrogative forms and functions in early childhood Cantonese

The influence of older siblings on the language environment of young children

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