METHODS

1
Who Am I Talking to? Children's Sensitivity to
the Listener Evidence from the
sibling-to-sibling and sibling-to -parent
interaction. Gina G. Hislop, BS, Elena Zaretsky,
PhD, Shelley Velleman, PhD Department of
Communication Disorders, University of
Massachusetts Amherst
METHODS
ABSTRACT
RESULTS (continues)
Acquisition of registers is considered one of the
most important issues in language development.
The term register refers to the use of language
appropriate to a specific audience. Research
shows that even young children understand that
the language they use in social situations should
change depending on their audience, i.e., play
partners, younger siblings, parents, or
unfamiliar adults. This study investigates the
use of register or code-switching by six
children between the ages of 35 to 86 years
old, during a story-telling activity. The
children were asked to tell the story from a
picture book, Im Gonna Like Me Letting off a
Little Self-Esteem, (Jamie Lee Curtis Laura
Cornell), to their younger siblings, age-range
from 23 to 5.4 years old, on two different
occasions. Our results indicate that children
used fewer and shorter sentences, as well as
different tone of voice, to their younger
sibling, compared to their stories directed to an
adult (mother). These results show that children
are very sensitive to changing audience at a very
young age (35 years old in our sample) and are
able to modify their language according to social
situation.

• Participants
• Six children who had younger siblings were
  recruited from a private daycare.
• All children were observed in two sessions One
  with younger sibling and one with an adult.
• The child was instructed to create their own
  story using the picture book Im Gonna Like Me
  Letting off a Little Self-Esteem, (Jamie Lee
  Curtis and Laura Cornell) and narrate it to
  either the younger sibling or the parent.
• The order of sessions was randomized half of the
  subjects had session one with the sibling and the
  other half had session one with their parent.
• The sessions were audio taped and later
  transcribed in CHAT and coded to examine
  differences between the story told to the child
  and the adult.
• Coding for Analysis
• The following parameters were identified for the
  analysis
• mean length of utterance (MLU)
• pitch of voice (Emotion)
• amount of repetitions (Reps)
• amount of fillers used (Fillers)
• The data was examined through statistical
  analysis (t-test)

Age and sensitivity to the audience



Significant at p.015
INTRODUCTION

• Registers are forms of language that vary
  according to the participants, settings, and
  topics (Gleason, 2005).
• Tomasello and Mannle (1985) found that even
  pre-school age children use the child directed
  speech register, also known as motherese, when
  speaking to a younger sibling. This involves
  using a higher pitch, shorter utterances, more
  directives and self repetitions.
• Researchers have also focused on gender
  differences in interactive behaviors
• male interactions are more competitive, dominant,
  and independent from the partner
• females tend to have interactions based on
  closeness to the partner, resulting in more
  attentiveness, responsiveness and support
  (Leaper, 1991).
• Brown and Dunn (1996) focused on gender as a
  factor in understanding emotions and quality of
  relationships. Past research has shown that
  girls and women have an advantage over boys in
  decoding emotional expressions (as cited in Brown
  and Dunn, 1996).
• The childs perception of their own gender
  identity affects their social behaviors and
  speaking styles. Leaper (1991) studied the
  effects of the speakers gender and the partners
  gender on interpersonal behaviors. For example,
  girls may at times step out of the genderlect and
  become demanding and more powerful in their
  interactions with males however, they do not
  like to use these strategies with other girls.
• School age children can adjust their speech to
  infants similar to the adults, i.e. using
  matherese (Tomasello Mannle, 1985).
• Black and Logan (1995) found that early
  experiences within the family system transfer to
  international styles with peers. Putallaz (1987)
  found that mothers behaviors in play situations
  with their children were related to the behaviors
  the children used with them and with their peers.
  This shows that parents can be models for their
  childrens play, discourse and interactions.

DISCUSSION
CoQ9
RESULTS

• The aim of this study was to observe if there are
  differences in the speaking styles that children
  use for different audiences. The results show
  that children do adjust their narrative style
  according to the audience, based on the
  parameters we identified for the analysis.
• The results show that there are gender
  differences in childrens narrative
• styles
• Female children were more inclined to changed
  the pitch of voice for sound effects, emphasis,
  intonation, than male children to gain attention
  of the listener.
• The results show that the older children used
  more fillers, such as
• um oh so okay etc, when speaking with
  adults, possibly to allow
• more time to formulate sentences.
• There were age effects
• The older group used more fillers with the
  younger siblings. It can be explained by the fact
  that older children created longer stories,
  therefore, having an effect on the amount of
  fillers.
• The data supports the hypothesis that children
  are sensitive to their audiences and code-switch
  according to their perception of their
  interaction partner. Children as young as three
  in this study did make accommodations in their
  speech for the younger sibling.
• There also was evidence of genderlects when
  comparing the female and male discourse styles.
• Differences were also noted among the younger
  childrens versus the older childrens speaking
  styles.
• This study emphasizes the importance of studying
  sibling-sibling dyads within the scope of
  language acquisition.
• Further research with a larger amount of
  participants may provide more statistically
  significant results.
• REFERENCES
• Black, B. Logan, A. (1995). Links between
  communication patterns in mother-child,
• father-child, and child-peer interactions and
  childrens social status. Child Development, 66,
  255-271.
• Brown, J. R., Dunn, J. (1996). Continuities in
  emotion understanding from three to six
• years. Child Development, 67, 789-802.

Observable differences in the sensitivity to the
audience As a group, children did not differ in
their MLU in narratives addressed to younger
siblings or adults. Observable differences were
seen in the use of repetitions and fillers in the
narratives to siblings. Gender
differences in sensitivity to the audience
CoQ9
Control
PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• The purpose of the current investigation was to
  discover if young children are able to adjust
  their speaking style for different audiences.
  Gender differences in the language accommodations
  made for the younger sibling will also be
  examined.
• Research Questions
• Are there observable differences in childrens
  sensitivity to the audience (siblings vs.
  adults)?
• Are there gender differences in childrens
  sensitivity to their audience (siblings vs.
  adults)?
• Does age play a role in childrens sensitivity to
  the audience (younger children, ages 3-7, vs.
  older children, ages 8-9)?

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