Self-Talk
Children mostly engage in self talk during pre-sleep monologues. These usually include songs, sounds, chitchat, and expressing their feelings. During the preschool years, you may notice a decline in audible monologues. This is normal as inaudible self-talk increases.
ConversationThe children will have an overall increase in talkativeness starting at 3 years old. This age also marks longer dialogues and more connected speech.
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Conversational Repair Children will often question and ask for clarification during conversation. They might have stalls, or long pauses where they say "um" or "uh" and repeat what they have already said while they're thinking of what to say next.
(Hobek, A., 2016. Preschool Pragmatics and Semantics) |
PresuppositionThis is an adaptation to the listener's knowledge and happens when the child isn't aware of the effects of not providing enough information.
3 years old: able to adjust their answers so they are more suitable to the listener's knowledge 4 years old: use verbs such as know, think, forget, and remember 5 or 6 years old: use verbs such as wish, guess, and pretend |
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Registers
A register is a different style of speaking for different roles. First, the pitch and loudness will vary. This is followed by the mean length utterance and then the choice of topics and words. Girls will alter register more often than boys. Registers are evident in politeness. For example, 2-5 year olds use more commands with other preschoolers and more permission request with older children and adults. (Hobek, A., 2016. Preschool Pragmatics and Semantics) |