Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-g7ldn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-24T22:55:57.433Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A pragmatic analysis of spontaneous imitations*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Joseph P. Folger  and
Robin S. Chapman
Joseph P. Folger
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
Robin S. Chapman
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Children's imitations were analysed as a function of parental speech acts for six children in early Stage I of language acquisition. The relative frequency with which children imitated mothers reflected the relative frequency with which mothers imitated children (Spearman rank correlation = 0·77). Although parents' imitative expansions could all be categorized as having primary speech act functions (e.g. request for information) from the parents' point of view, expansions constituted a separate class of speech events in terms of children's responses. The children imitated imitations far more frequently than non-imitative speech acts in the same category. These findings suggest that individual differences in children's propensity to imitate may arise from the degree to which parents provide a model of imitation as a speech act.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 1978 , pp. 25 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported in part by a grant from the graduate school of the University of Wisconsin to the second author (Project No. 160450). The assistance of Lois Makoid, Sue Schmidt, Carol Caldwell, Bill Horne, and Larry Kohn in data collection and transcription is gratefully acknowledged. We thank the parents and children who participated and our colleague Louise Cherry for comments on the manuscript.

References

REFERENCES

Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Bloom, L., Hood, L. & Lightbown, P. (1974). Imitation in language development: if, when and why. CogPsych 6. 380–420.Google Scholar
Broen, P. (1972). The verbal environment of the language learning child. ASHA Monog. 17.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cazden, C. (1965). Environmental assistance in the child's acquisition of grammar. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Dore, J. (1974) A pragmatic description of early language development. JPsycholingRes 4. 343–50.Google Scholar
Dore, J. (1975). Communicative intentions and pragmatic strategies in the conversation of preschool children. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Ervin, S. M. (1964). Imitation and structural change in children's language. In Lenneberg, E. (ed), New directions in the study of language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1964) Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monogr. Soc. Res. Ch. Devel. 38 (1–2, Serial No. 149).Google Scholar
Prutting, C. & Connolly, J. (1976). Imitations: a closer look. JSHD 41. 412–22.Google Scholar
Rees, N. S. (1975). Imitation and language development: issues and clinical implications. JSHD 40. 339–50.Google Scholar
Searle, J. (1969). Speech acts: an essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Seitz, S. & Stewart, C. (1975). Expanding on expansions and related aspects of mother–child communication. DevPsych 11. 763–9.Google Scholar
Shatz, M. (1975). How young children respond to language: procedures for answering. PRCLD 10. 97–110.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. (1968). Imitation and grammatical development in children. In Endler, N., Boulter, L. & Osser, H. (eds), Contemporary issues in developmental psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Whitehurst, G. & Vasta, R. (1975). Is language acquired through imitation? JPsycholingRes 4. 37–59.Google Scholar