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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Ginger Berninger  and
Catherine Garvey
Ginger Berninger
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
Catherine Garvey
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract

Child partners were compared on their relative tendency to use the interrogative form in spontaneous dyadic verbal interactions. A given child's tendency to use the interrogative form more frequently than the other member of the dyad remained constant across partners. This relative stability in formulating utterances in interrogative form cannot be attributed to the child's producing more talk in general than the partner. The observed effect is explained as a type of conversational synchrony in which participants achieve a complementary balance rather than congruence. It was concluded that the interrogative form is a linguistic means for child peers to establish cooperation as well as controlling kinds of relationships during an ongoing interaction.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , June 1981 , pp. 297 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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