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Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: differences in breakdown and repair.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Tomasello, M; Conti-Ramsden, G; Ewert, B
Published in: Journal of child language
February 1990

In this study we compared the conversations of mothers and fathers with their children at 1; 3 and 1; 9, with special attention to breakdown-repair sequences. We found that, overall, children and secondary caregiver fathers experienced more communicative breakdowns than did children and primary caregiver mothers. More specifically, fathers requested clarification of their children more often than did mothers, and they most often used a non-specific query (e.g. What?). Mothers used more specific queries (e.g. Put it where?) and were involved in more 'looped' sequences involving multiple requests for clarification. Fathers also failed to acknowledge child utterances more often than did mothers. After a father non-acknowledgement, children tended not to persist and when they did they often received further non-acknowledgements; the dyad did not often return to the child's original topic. After a maternal non-acknowledgement, on the other hand, children persisted and the dyad more often returned to its previous topic. The results are interpreted as support for the Bridge Hypothesis which claims that fathers present children with communicative challenges that help prepare them for communication with less familiar adults.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Journal of child language

DOI

EISSN

1469-7602

ISSN

0305-0009

Publication Date

February 1990

Volume

17

Issue

1

Start / End Page

115 / 130

Related Subject Headings

  • Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology
  • Speech
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Models, Psychological
  • Male
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Father-Child Relations
  • Communication
 

Citation

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Tomasello, M., Conti-Ramsden, G., & Ewert, B. (1990). Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: differences in breakdown and repair. Journal of Child Language, 17(1), 115–130. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000900013131
Tomasello, M., G. Conti-Ramsden, and B. Ewert. “Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: differences in breakdown and repair.Journal of Child Language 17, no. 1 (February 1990): 115–30. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000900013131.
Tomasello M, Conti-Ramsden G, Ewert B. Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: differences in breakdown and repair. Journal of child language. 1990 Feb;17(1):115–30.
Tomasello, M., et al. “Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: differences in breakdown and repair.Journal of Child Language, vol. 17, no. 1, Feb. 1990, pp. 115–30. Epmc, doi:10.1017/s0305000900013131.
Tomasello M, Conti-Ramsden G, Ewert B. Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: differences in breakdown and repair. Journal of child language. 1990 Feb;17(1):115–130.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of child language

DOI

EISSN

1469-7602

ISSN

0305-0009

Publication Date

February 1990

Volume

17

Issue

1

Start / End Page

115 / 130

Related Subject Headings

  • Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology
  • Speech
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Models, Psychological
  • Male
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Father-Child Relations
  • Communication