This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Levin, H. Articles by Hunter, W. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Children's Use of a Social Speech Register: Age and Sex Differences

Cornell University

Wendy A. Hunter

Cornell University

The purpose of this study was to trace the changes in a social speech register, talking to an animal, as used by children between the ages of five and 12 years. Each child's speech was recorded while she/he played alone with a rabbit. There were no changes in the nature of such speech between the age groups. However, boys and girls spoke differently to the rabbit. Boys used simpler speech, more imperatives and more annoyed utterances. Girls were more affectionate and asked more questions. Girls were less self conscious during the task. Girls' intonations were more expressive as measured by ratings and by the variability of the fundamental frequencies of their voices. A comparison of results on baby-talk with the characteristics of animal-talk indicated that the two registers are similar.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?