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Requests and responses in children's speech*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Catherine Garvey
Catherine Garvey
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract

An investigation of children's ability to convey and respond to requests for action was based on the spontaneous speech of 36 dyads of nursery school children (3; 6–5; 7). Direct request forms (e.g. Give me the hammer) were frequent and the majority were acknowledged verbally. Examination of the contexts of direct requests indicated that speaker and addressee shared an understanding of the interpersonal meaning factors relevant to requesting. These meaning factors were invoked in justifying, refusing and in repeating or paraphrasing a request, and they also provided a basis for the communication of indirect requests. Examples of inferred requests are discussed, and a relationship between the structure of the speech act and conversational sequences is proposed.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , April 1975 , pp. 41 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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