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Conversational competence in children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Elinor O. Keenan
Elinor O. Keenan
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Abstract

Observations of early morning conversations between twin boys (2;9 at onset of research) indicate that young children are able to sustain a coherent dialogue over a number of turns. Contrary to the views of Piaget (1926), the interlocutors generally attend to one another's utterances. Coherence is achieved to a large extent by attending to the form of one another's utterances. Extended exchanges are maintained by speakers focusing on a sequence of sounds (sound play) or a constituent within an antecedent turn and reproducing it (with or without modification) in the next turn.

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Type
Articles
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Journal of Child Language , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , November 1974, pp. 163 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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