Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:15:20.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Requests and responses in children's speech*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Catherine Garvey
Catherine Garvey
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An investigation of children's ability to convey and respond to requests for action was based on the spontaneous speech of 36 dyads of nursery school children (3; 6–5; 7). Direct request forms (e.g. Give me the hammer) were frequent and the majority were acknowledged verbally. Examination of the contexts of direct requests indicated that speaker and addressee shared an understanding of the interpersonal meaning factors relevant to requesting. These meaning factors were invoked in justifying, refusing and in repeating or paraphrasing a request, and they also provided a basis for the communication of indirect requests. Examples of inferred requests are discussed, and a relationship between the structure of the speech act and conversational sequences is proposed.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , April 1975 , pp. 41 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. New York: O.U.P.Google Scholar
Blank, M. (1974). Cognitive functions of language in the preschool years. DevPsych 10. 229–45.Google Scholar
Braine, M. D. S. (1963). On learning the grammatical order of words. PsychRev 70. 323–48.Google ScholarPubMed
Bruner, J. (1975). The ontogenesis of speech acts. JChL 2. 1–19.Google Scholar
Dore, J. (forthcoming). The development of speech acts. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J. (1968). Verbs of judging: an exercise in semantic description. In Fill-more, C. J. & Langendoen, D. T. (eds), Studies in linguistic semantics. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Garvey, C. & Hogan, R. (1973). Social speech and social interaction: egocentrism revisited. ChD 44. 562–68.Google Scholar
Gordon, D. & Lakoff, G. (1971). Conversational postulates. Papers from the Seventh Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. 63–84.Google Scholar
Heider, F. (1958). Psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1970). The study of language in its social context. SG 23. 30–87.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. & Yudovich, F. (1968). Speech and the development of mental processes in the child. London: Staples Press.Google Scholar
Macnamara, J. (1972). Cognitive basis of language learning in infants. PsychRev 79. 1–13.Google ScholarPubMed
McNeill, D. (1970). The acquisition of language. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Miller, G. (1970). Four philosophical problems of psycholinguistics. PhilosSci 37. 183–99.Google Scholar
Mohan, B. (forthcoming). Do sequencing rules exist? Semiotica.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1926). The language and thought of the child. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.Google Scholar
Rheingold, H. L. (1973). Sharing at an early age. Presidential address presented to the American Psychological Association Meeting,Montreal.Google Scholar
Searle, J. (1969). Speech acts: an essay in the philosophy of language. London: C.U.P.Google Scholar