Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Literature I 63

statements, in one-liners which call for reciprocity in action, not
necessarily in verbal response.

Children in the societies examined nevertheless become fluent and
competent speakers.

2.5.4 Facilitating structures of adult talk.

Simplified features of caregiver talk that have been described in Western
studies are neither universal nor necessary for language acquisition
<0chs and Schieffelin,1982). Although special types of speech register
may be used for children, they are part of the general Sociolinguistic
rules of addressing less competent members or foreign speakers, or lower
rank individuals. Simplification is culturally organized and assumes
different forms and meanings, according to the general attitude towards
children and learning.

What Ochs and Schieffelin <1982) suggest is that there are two basic
orientations towards children: in some societies there is a general
accomodation by adults to the needs of the children, in others the
r

children are expected to adapt to the requirements of situations as
structured by social norms. WWMC society is an example of the first type,
with its miniature toys, special equipment for children, frequent
intervention and overt facilitation of language (intonation, expansions,
and generally taking the perspective of children when conversing with
them). Other societies expect children to develop early Independence and
reliability, and it is basically up to them to make their speech
intelligible to the addressee (Ochs,1984):

...rather than offering possible interpretations or guessing what a
child is saying or meaning, caregivers make extens∙√tuse of
clarification requests such as ’huh?, what?’ ... caregivers tend not
to guess, hypothesize or otherwise interpret [such unclear]
utterances and acts ... [but] will prefer to wait until the meaning
becomes known. (Ochs and Schleffelin,1982:43).

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