Gender differences in the acquisition of requests in Lithuanian
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Viktorija Kavaliauskaitė-Vilkinienė
Abstract
The present study investigates the early development of directive speech acts by two Lithuanian children of different gender, a girl aged 1;8-2;8 and a boy aged 1;6-2;7, and is based on longitudinal data of mother-child interactions. The results show that expressions of agent-oriented modality appeared at the very beginning of the observation period when both children produced direct and indirect requests. Direct requests were expressed by one-word utterances consisting of nouns, adverbs, infinitives, or imperatives and indirect requests contained statements of desire, need and hortatives. Toward the end of observation, the children acquired various other ways to express requests. The present study examines the working hypothesis that in Lithuanian culture boys and girls are socialized differently, namely that boys are exposed to more directives in the form of imperatives whereas girls are addressed by more indirect forms of requests. This hypothesis has not been confirmed by our results as more direct requests were found in the girl’s CDS than the boy’s. More research is needed in order to bring to light which other factors besides gender and age may play a role in developing the important communicative function of expressing requests. It might be expected that gender differences become more relevant for children beyond age three.
Abstract
The present study investigates the early development of directive speech acts by two Lithuanian children of different gender, a girl aged 1;8-2;8 and a boy aged 1;6-2;7, and is based on longitudinal data of mother-child interactions. The results show that expressions of agent-oriented modality appeared at the very beginning of the observation period when both children produced direct and indirect requests. Direct requests were expressed by one-word utterances consisting of nouns, adverbs, infinitives, or imperatives and indirect requests contained statements of desire, need and hortatives. Toward the end of observation, the children acquired various other ways to express requests. The present study examines the working hypothesis that in Lithuanian culture boys and girls are socialized differently, namely that boys are exposed to more directives in the form of imperatives whereas girls are addressed by more indirect forms of requests. This hypothesis has not been confirmed by our results as more direct requests were found in the girl’s CDS than the boy’s. More research is needed in order to bring to light which other factors besides gender and age may play a role in developing the important communicative function of expressing requests. It might be expected that gender differences become more relevant for children beyond age three.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of abbreviations used in the present volume VII
- Studying the acquisition of modality: An introduction 1
- Requests in first language acquisition of German: Evidence from high and low SES families 25
- Gender differences in the acquisition of requests in Lithuanian 79
- Development of directive expressions in Russian adult–child communication 113
- Acquisition of modality in Croatian 159
- Competition of grammatical forms in the expression of directives in early French child speech and child-directed speech 191
- On the acquisition of dynamic, deontic and epistemic uses of modal verbs in Romanian 235
- Development of modality in early Greek language acquisition 255
- Acquisition of requests in Estonian 315
- Directives in Finnish language acquisition 347
- Modality in child Hebrew 379
- Epistemic modality in Russian child language 421
- Epistemic and evidential modality in early Turkish child speech 453
- The development of sentence-ending epistemic/evidential markers in young Korean children 491
- The acquisition of evidentiality in two Mayan languages, Yukatek and Tojolabal 525
- Conclusions 555
- List of Contributors 575
- Subject Index 577
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of abbreviations used in the present volume VII
- Studying the acquisition of modality: An introduction 1
- Requests in first language acquisition of German: Evidence from high and low SES families 25
- Gender differences in the acquisition of requests in Lithuanian 79
- Development of directive expressions in Russian adult–child communication 113
- Acquisition of modality in Croatian 159
- Competition of grammatical forms in the expression of directives in early French child speech and child-directed speech 191
- On the acquisition of dynamic, deontic and epistemic uses of modal verbs in Romanian 235
- Development of modality in early Greek language acquisition 255
- Acquisition of requests in Estonian 315
- Directives in Finnish language acquisition 347
- Modality in child Hebrew 379
- Epistemic modality in Russian child language 421
- Epistemic and evidential modality in early Turkish child speech 453
- The development of sentence-ending epistemic/evidential markers in young Korean children 491
- The acquisition of evidentiality in two Mayan languages, Yukatek and Tojolabal 525
- Conclusions 555
- List of Contributors 575
- Subject Index 577
