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Changes in the explicitness of mothers' directives as children age*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

David Bellinger
David Bellinger
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Abstract

This study investigates the surface forms which mothers use to direct their children's behaviour. It is generally supposed that social factors control a speaker's choice of directive form. However, it is shown that mothers' use of the various forms may be related to a cognitive variable, viz. the degree to which the forms possess the surface properties and, hence, clarity of canonical imperatives. As children get older, mothers' directives lose, in a meaningful order, properties which help to specify their mood and content. It is suggested that the social properties of the context do eventually replace the cognitive demands of the various forms as the primary influence on mother's choices.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , October 1979 , pp. 443 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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Footnotes

[*]

This paper is based on portions of a dissertation submitted to Cornell University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. The research was supported by Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant SOC75–O7152 from the National Science Foundation to the author and by Training Grant MH-08520-12 awarded to Cornell University by the National Institute of Mental Health. This paper was prepared while the author was at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, during which time support was provided by Public Health Service Postdoctoral Fellowship 1-F32-MH07094-01 awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Portions of the paper were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, March 1977. Thanks go to Dr Alfred L. Baldwin, the chairman of my graduate committee, for his guidance and support throughout my graduate study and to Dr Julia Matthews Bellinger for many helpful comments on the manuscript. Address for correspondence: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Enders, M41, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, U.S.A.

References

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