Developmental Sociolinguistics: Child Language in a Social Setting

Abstract

The appearance of the relatively new interdisciplinary field of developmental sociolinguistics is described in this article as emerging from the development of the areas of psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. With an emphasis on child-language acquisition, coupled with a growing awareness of the interaction between society and language, researchers are now asking questions about how children learn to use language in socially appropriate ways. Developmental parameters are beginning to be delineated in various studies, showing some of the constraints on the social language-systems which various children in the United States develop. Primary-language socialization and cultural variation are briefly discussed, as well as the development of sociolinguistic awareness.

Another significant aspect of developmental sociolinguistics is also described: that of the acquisition of a repertoire of registers by children. Preschool children's register-acquisitions seem most constrained by their home and peer domains, while school-age children move into the important educational domain which contains registers such as the Language Instruction Register and the Mathematics Instruction Register. The role of teachers, who play an important, but often poorly understood, role in the acquisition of these registers, is also briefly explored.

Finally, further research on adult social language use and further theoretical development in sociolinguistics are called for, so that the area of developmental sociolinguistics may develop in more than a descriptive direction.