Do children know what it means to 'talk posh'? as we say in gb english

[Amy Sheldon]

My work on preschoolers (3-5 yrs) and others' on young children, showing
gender differences in conflict management could be interpreted as
*implicit* understanding and skill in making linguisic choices to manage
one's agenda to manipulate social outcomes. I would think this skill is
part of the phenomena you are asking about: the relationship between
linguistic choices ('style') and the exercise of authority and power. 8
yrs.  would be quite late to begin this skill, according the the
literature, but also if you take a common sense approach to what it takes
to live in groups for the first 8 or so years of life, and were to have
any chance of getting what you want using language.

Antecedents in really young kids might be behaviors such as
smiling.

Amy Sheldon

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005, Aubrey Nunes wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> What I am asking about is perhaps a very British English phenomenon - or
> perhaps a point of sensitivity sharper in britain than elsewhere.
>
> My question is this: how early and how accurately do children learn to
> detect corelations between a particular sort of speech and the exercise of
> authority and power?
>
> I once read an unpublished BEd thesis from the early 90's showing that the
> issues at stake here were pretty well understood by children of around 8;0,
> as I recall. Since the implications are kind of obvious, I am sure that this
> must have been well studied and reported.
>
> I would be most grateful for any pointers to literature on this.
>
> Aubrey
>
>
> Aubrey Nunes,
> Pigeon Post Box Ltd
> 52 Bonham Road
> London, SW2 5HG
>
> T:  0207 652 1347
> E:  aubrey at pigeonpostbox.co.uk
> I:  www.pigeonpostbox.co.uk
>
>
>
>