1st Edition

Childly Language Children, language and the social world

By Alison Sealey Copyright 2000
    240 Pages
    by Routledge

    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    Childly Language explores how attitudes and cultural assumptions about children and childhood are revealed in contemporary English. It addresses such questions as: How is concern for children's safety and welfare reflected in the vocabulary and grammar of contemporary English? and When we say that an adult is being 'childish', what are we saying about the characteristics of children?

    Author's Acknowledgements
    Publisher's Acknowledgements
    PART I: DISCOURSES OF CHILDHOOD
    Introduction to Part I
    1. Children in the news (1): threatened, protected, active
    2. Children in the news (2): the idea of the child
    3. Children in the English language
    PART II: PERSPECTIVES ON CHILDREN, LANGUAGE AND THE SOCIAL WORLD
    Introduction to Part II
    4. Perpectives on researching cihldren and language
    5. Perspectives on language, identity and the social world
    PART III: CHILDREN'S TALK
    Introduction to Part III
    6. The social status of 'child' in informal talk
    7. Blurred boundaries: speaking to children, speaking as a child
    8. Children's negotiations of the social world
    PART IV
    9. Conclusions and implications
    References
    Index

    Biography

    Alison Sealy is Professor at the University of Lancaster, UK. She is the author of Researching English Language: A Resource Book for Students (Routledge, 2010).