1. Language Learning: Language Socialization
…the baby uses a word long before he asks for the object; when he wants his horsey he is likely to cry and fret, because he is reacting to an actual environment, not forming ideas (Goshgarian, 2004: 31).

2. In what ways are the relationship between language and gender cross-culturally similar or different to the relationship between language and race?

3. Previously: Social roles and language use:
--class, caste, gender, race, etc.
Language and social meanings:
--reflects social and cultural norms
Linguistic markers:
--sounds, grammar, morphology

4. Communicative Competence
Knowledge of rules of language and language use. Communicative competence entails ability to speak a particular language and knowledge of cultural and social norms of appropriate language use in given interactional contexts.

5. Today’s Basic Questions
1. How is this communicative competence acquired?
2. How are children socialised into appropriate linguistic behaviour?
3. How linguistic practices are made to seem natural?

6. Linguistic Ability Symbolic representation
Awareness of symbolism of sounds
Relational situations: people, objects, and/or activities
Discovery and creativity
Universality of process (acquisition of language)

7. Acquisition of language: Steps
1. Learning to differentiate and produce sounds
2. The beginning of grammatical construction
3. Morphological development:
4. Growth in vocabulary
5. Syntactic development

8. Syntactic development
Expansion of grammar: new propositions
Example: negation
Simple:N + Sentence or Sent + N = No sit there.
More sophisticated: He not little, he big.
Complex incorporation: I didn’t did it

9. Child-Rearing Practices and Language Instruction: Three Cases
Ochs (1988) and Schieffelin (1990)
White-middle- class (USA): infants encouraged to speak
Samoa (A group of six Polynesian islands in the South Pacific): opposite
Kaluli (New Guinea):opposite
Different practices and values = diff linguistic socialization

10. White-Middle-Class (USA): Language Instruction
Infants treated as persons
Potential and actual conversational partners
Interpretation of infant’s vocalization and gestures as meaningful
Establishes communicative structures
Simplification of language(caregiver) baby talk

11. Samoan: Language Instruction
Infant’s mobility (Crawling) determines hiss/her status as a conversational partner
Infant’s vocalization and gestures not “speech act”
Stratification by age and title
Lower-rank status: infant

12. Turn taking sequencing in the USA (ABBA)
Samoa Child appeals to high-ranking caregiver (A  B) High-ranking caregiver directs lower-ranking caregiver (B  C) Lower-ranking caregiver responds to child (C  A)
Turn taking sequencing in the USA (ABBA)

13. Samoan Communicative Interaction:
Multiparty sequencing: along hierarchical lines
Social hierarchy and meaning: clarification of meaning (lower rank)
Cultural priorities through language instruction (paying attention to social hierarchy)

14. Kaluli: Language Instruction
Egalitarian
Emphasis on network of obligation and reciprocity
Language means to ge rights and desires
Infants: helpless, lacking understanding
Not considered conversational partners

15. Socialization and language Acquisition
Teaching how to become assertive
Teaching by example
Social rules transmitted through language instruction

16. Summary Discovery and creativity universal: steps
Cultural practices to make a child language competent differ cross culturally
Ochs (1988) and Schieffelin (1990)
Different cultural practices reflects on linguistic socialization

17. Discussion Question
How do child rearing linguistic practices play a central role in making the child into a competent member of a culture? Provide examples from your own culture.