Résultats de recherche

1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« The purpose of the present study was to test further Nelson’s functional hypothesis concerning the linguistic environment of secondborn children. In particular, it included the analysis of overhead conversations between mothers and older siblings. » (p. 26)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
14 secondborn children (7 boys and 7 girls), all of whom were 21 months of age

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« The present study investigated whether the presence of an older sibling affects the language secondborn children hear. In particular, we investigated whether mothers’ distribution of language across the three functional categories of metalingual, referential and social-regulative would differ from a mother-child dyadic to a mother-child sibling triadic context, in support of Nelson’s (1981) hypothesis. In addition, we investigated how older siblings’ speech to both the child and the mother in the triadic context contributes to the linguistic environment of the secondborn children. Fourteen English-speaking secondborn children were videotaped at 21 months of age in two 25-minute free-play sessions, one with their mothers and the other mothers and older siblings. Mothers’ and older siblings’ utterances were analysed in terms of three function categories. The results provided evidence for Nelson’s hypothesis that in the triadic context, mothers used more language centred around children’s activities and social exchanges (social-regulative language), whereas in the diadic contex, they used more language-focused (metalingual language). Furthermore, older siblings’ utterances to the secondborn in the triadic context were overwhelmingly social regulative, whereas their utterances to the mother were more metalingual and referential. These results suggest that linguistic environment of secondborn children is qualitatively different from that of firstborn children. » (p. 21)