The role of context in children's use of discourse markers: Three studies of peer conversation

This dissertation examines children's use of discourse markers, linguistic forms that develop pragmatic meaning rather than referential meaning. The study of discourse markers can provide information about the role of pragmatics in language development. Conversational activity context influences both use and order of acquisition for discourse markers. Activity context may be able to explain previously observed differences in gender and age.; Thirty-six children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old were observed in naturalistic child-peer conversations. Conversations were coded for discourse marker function, form and activity context.; Study 1: Plurifunctionality in children's use of discourse markers . This study examines the age differences in use of seven plurifunctional words. Based on an interactional functions hypothesis, the early and initial uses of these forms have functions that serve the social interaction. Older children are more conceptually developed and their language is less tied to the social context. They use more prepositionally based functions. Children in the three-year-old group demonstrated significantly greater use of these forms for social interactional functions than for ideational functions, while children in the five-year-old group used these forms for more ideational functions. A form-by-form analysis of the seven forms shows a similar change for each.; Study 2: Age differences in children's use of discourse markers . There was a significant relationship between age group and conversational activity, and between activity and pragmatic functions. Activity selects for certain discourse marking functions and not for others. Age differences in discourse marker use were largely absent when examined within the same activity context. If the context did not strongly promote a specific discourse marker function, the age differences supported the pattern predicted by an interactional functions hypothesis.; Study 3: Gender differences in children's use of discourse markers . There was a significant relationship between gender and activity context, and between activity context and the functions it demands. Since activity context promotes certain discourse marker functions and not others, differences in the use of discourse markers by boys and girls could be related to the types of conversational activities in which they engage. Role-play context is an exception.