Talking of Children and Youth: Language, Socialization and Culture

Abstract

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