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The impact of language & speech patterns on the socialization, culture, & identities of children & youth is examined, based on a 1979 field study of youth ages 11-16 from a small mining village & a 1989 study of working-class children ages 4-9 from a large town in England. Of particular concern is how both young people & adults use language to negotiate the categories of childhood & youth. It is argued that language is used in specific, though not necessarily conscious, ways to define particular identities. Shifts in particular forms of language use coincide with & facilitate movement between identities. The findings suggest that position in life course has an equal if not more important impact on language than class position. Children & young people explore & challenge the identity limits placed on them by adults through the restyling of language & use of language outside their specific age-defined language boundaries. The language of childhood & youth contains particular norms, values, & categories of thought, which structure interactions. However, heterogeneity does exist within these structures; the two studies evidenced a variety of language uses ranging from poetic creativity to nervous formalism. It is concluded that language is a fundamental site of self & identity creation for children & youths. 29 References. T. Sevier

US portrayals of the German & Japanese enemy in WWII are explored, demonstrating that, while Germans were depicted as humans misled by evil Nazi leaders, Japanese were portrayed as subhumans who deserved to be exterminated by white men; no distinctions were made between Japanese leaders, soldiers, & civilians. Paradoxically, initial Japanese successes in the war also led to an image of Japanese soldiers as invincible. The US view of Japan is contrasted with the Japanese view of Westerners, it is argued that, while white racism focused on denigrating the Other, Japanese racism emphasized the elevation of the self. In addition, while Westerners relied on pseudoscience to bolster their racist claims, the Japanese turned to mythohistory to legitimate claims of their superiority. Ironically, the malleability of racial stereotypes may have contributed to the relatively benign relations between Americans & Japanese during the postwar occupation of Japan (1945-1952). 8 Figures. J. Ferrari