Gender Differences in the Discourse of Greek Children Play-Groups
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v3i2.209Keywords:
Gender Construction, Child DiscourseAbstract
This paper examines the discourse of children of nursery school age concerning the construction of gender. It focuses on the conversational negotiation of control acts - i.e. conversational moves which attempt to change the behaviour of others-, and the use of politeness – i.e. strategies for the protection of face- in connection to the sex of the children, the type of the activity, and the composition of the play-group. The data are part of the corpus of a larger study, which examines the use of control acts by children of nursery school age (Author 2001). It is based on ethnographic observations of children’s activities in the nursery school environment that lasted one school year. The children involved are of both sexes and of various social backgrounds. The conversational exchanges used for the present study are based on recordings that took place during playtime activities. Transcripts of topically similar interactions have been selected so as the discourse of single- and mixed-sex groupings to be studied and juxtaposed. Based on the analysis, it will be claimed that Greek children of both sexes make use of linguistic markers of dominance in their choice of control acts which, rather than being linked to the sex of the speakers, are linked to one’s achieved position of power within the play-group, as has already been shown in other studies (Goodwin 2001).
References
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Cook-Gumperz, Jenny and Szymanski, Margaret (2001) Classroom ‘families’. Cooperating or competing: Girls’ and boys’ interactional styles in a bilingual classroom. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 107–130.
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Ervin-Tripp, Susan, Guo, Jiansheng and Lambert, Martin (1990) Politeness and persuasion in children’s control acts. Journal of Pragmatics 14(2): 307–331.
Farris, Catherine S. P. (2000) Cross-sex peer conflict and the discursive production of gender in a Chinese preschool in Taiwan. Journal of Pragmatics 32(5): 539–568.
Georgalidou, Marianthi (2001) Pragmatic Parameters in Language Acquisition. The Directive Function. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Athens: University of Athens.
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Georgalidou, Marianthi (2008) The contextual parameters of linguistic choice: Greek children’s preferences for the formation of directive speech acts. Journal of Pragmatics 40(1): 72–94.
Goodwin, Marjorie H. (1980) Directive/response speech sequencies in girls’ and boys’ task activities. In Sally McConnell-Ginet, Ruth Borker and Nelly Furman (eds) Women and Language in Literature and Society 157–173. New York: Praeger.
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Goodwin, Marjorie H. (2001) Organizing participation in cross-sex jump rope: Situating gender differences within longitudinal studies of activities. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 75–106.
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Hirschon, Renèe (2001) Freedom. Solidarity and obligation. The sociocultural context of Greek politeness. In Arin Bayraktaro?lou and Maria Sifianou (eds) Linguistic Politeness Across Boundaries: The Case of Greece and Turkey 17–42. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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Kakava, Christina (2002) Opposition in modern Greek discourse: Cultural and contextual constraints. Journal of Pragmatics 34(10–11): 1537–1568.
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Kyratzis, Amy (2001) Children’s gender indexing in language: From the separate world hypothesis to considerations of culture, context and power. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 1–13.
Lakoff, Robin (1973) Language and the woman’s place. Language in Society 2: 45–80.
Lytra, Vally (2007) Play Frames and Social Identities. Contact Encounters in a Greek Primary School. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Makri-Tsilipakou, Marianthi (2002) Agreement/disagreement: Affiliative vs disaffiliative display in cross-sex conversations. In Soula Pavlidou (ed.) Language-Gender-Sex 97–144. Thessaloniki: Paratiritis.
Maltz, Daniel N. and Borker, Ruth A. (1982) A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In John J. Gumperz (ed.) Communication, Language and Social Identity 196–216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mills, Sara (2003) Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mitchell-Kernan, Claudia and Kernan, T. Keith (1977) Pragmatics of directive choice among children. In Susan Ervin-Tripp and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan (eds) Child Discourse 189–208. New York/ London: Academic Press Inc.
Nakamura, Keiko (1996) The use of polite language by Japanese preschool children. In Dan I. Slobin, Julie Gerhardt, Amy Kyratzis and Jiansheng Guo (eds) Social Interaction, Social Context and Language: Essays in Honor of Susan Ervin-Tripp 235–250. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula (1999) ‘Verbal initiative in classroom interaction’. In Greek Linguistics ’97: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Greek Language 648–656. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.
Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula (2001) Politeness in the classroom? Evidence from a Greek highschool. In Arin Bayraktaro?lou and Maria Sifianou (eds) Linguistic Politeness Across Boundaries: The Case of Greece and Turkey 105–136. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Sacks, Harvey (1992) Lectures on Conversation. Oxford: Blackwell.
Schegloff, Emanuel (1988) Presequences and indirection: Applying speech act theory to ordinary conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 12(1): 55–62.
Schegloff, Emanuel (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction. A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sheldon, Amy (1992) Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic challenges to self-assertion and how young girls meet them. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 38: 95–117.
Sheldon, Amy (1996) You can be a baby brother but you aren’t born yet: Preschool girls’ negotiation for power and access in pretend play. Research on Language and Social Interaction 29: 57–80.
Sifianou, Maria (1992) Politeness Phenomena in Greek and in English. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sinclair, Anne and Van Gessel, Ruth (1990) The form and function of questions in children’s conversations. Journal of Pragmatics 14(6): 923–944.
Tannen, Deborah (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: Ballantine Books.
Thorne, Barrie (1993) Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Watts, Richard J. (2003) Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zimmerman, Don H. and West, Candace (1975) ‘Sex roles, interactions and silences in conversation’. In Barrie Thorne and Nancy Henley (eds) Difference and Dominance 105–129. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Andersen-Slosberg, Elaine (1990) Speaking with Style. The Sociolinguistic Skills of Children. Oxford: Routledge.
Archakis, Argyris (1992) Interruption in a School Context and its Differentiation according to Sex. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Aronsson, Karin and Thorell, Mia (1999) Family politics in children’s play directives. Journal of Pragmatics 31(1): 25–47.
Atkinson, J. Maxwell and Heritage, John (eds) (1984) Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Babiniotis, George (1998) Dictionary of Modern Greek Language. Athens: Centre of Lexicography.
Brown, Penelope and Levinson, Stephen (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cook-Gumperz, Jenny and Szymanski, Margaret (2001) Classroom ‘families’. Cooperating or competing: Girls’ and boys’ interactional styles in a bilingual classroom. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 107–130.
Davis, Susan S. (1980) The determinants of social position among rural Moroccan women. In Jane Smith (ed.) Women in Contemporary Muslim Societies 87–99. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press.
Dubish, Jill (1986) Introduction. In J. Dubish (ed.) Gender and Power in Rural Greece 3–41. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Eelen, Gino (2001) Critique of Politeness Theories. Manchester: St Jerome Press.
Ervin-Tripp, Susan (1977) ‘Wait for me, roller skate!’ In Susan Ervin-Tripp and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan (eds) Child Discourse 165–188. London: Academic Press Inc.
Ervin-Tripp, Susan (1982) Ask and it shall be given unto you: Children’s requests. In Heidi Byrnes (ed.) Georgetown Roundtable on Language and Linguistics V35 235–245.
Ervin-Tripp, Susan (2001) The place of gender in developmental pragmatics: Cultural factors. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 131–147.
Ervin-Tripp, Susan, Guo, Jiansheng and Lambert, Martin (1990) Politeness and persuasion in children’s control acts. Journal of Pragmatics 14(2): 307–331.
Farris, Catherine S. P. (2000) Cross-sex peer conflict and the discursive production of gender in a Chinese preschool in Taiwan. Journal of Pragmatics 32(5): 539–568.
Georgalidou, Marianthi (2001) Pragmatic Parameters in Language Acquisition. The Directive Function. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Athens: University of Athens.
Georgalidou, Marianthi (2005) Studying gender differences in the discourse of Greek children’s play-groups. Paper presented in the panel, ‘Subjectivity, identity and related topics in the pragmatics of the Greek language’. Organization: Prof. Soula. Pavlidou, 9th International Pragmatics Conference 10–15 July 2005, Riva del Garda, Italy.
Georgalidou, Marianthi (2008) The contextual parameters of linguistic choice: Greek children’s preferences for the formation of directive speech acts. Journal of Pragmatics 40(1): 72–94.
Goodwin, Marjorie H. (1980) Directive/response speech sequencies in girls’ and boys’ task activities. In Sally McConnell-Ginet, Ruth Borker and Nelly Furman (eds) Women and Language in Literature and Society 157–173. New York: Praeger.
Goodwin, Marjorie H. (1990) He-Said-She-Said: Talk as Social Organization Among Black Children. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Goodwin, Marjorie H. (2001) Organizing participation in cross-sex jump rope: Situating gender differences within longitudinal studies of activities. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 75–106.
Goodwin, Marjorie H. (2006) The Hidden Life of Girls. Games of Stance, Status, and Exclusion. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hirschon, Renèe (2001) Freedom. Solidarity and obligation. The sociocultural context of Greek politeness. In Arin Bayraktaro?lou and Maria Sifianou (eds) Linguistic Politeness Across Boundaries: The Case of Greece and Turkey 17–42. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Holmes. Janet (1995) Women, Men and Politeness. London: Longman.
Kakava, Christina (2002) Opposition in modern Greek discourse: Cultural and contextual constraints. Journal of Pragmatics 34(10–11): 1537–1568.
Kyratzis, Amy and Guo, Jiansheng (1996) ‘Separate worlds’ for girls and boys? Views from U.S. and Chinese mixed-sex friendship groups. In Dan I. Slobin, Julie Gerhardt, Amy Kyratzis and Jiansheng Guo (eds) Social Interaction, Social Context and Language: Essays in Honor of Susan Ervin-Tripp 555–578. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Kyratzis, Amy (1992) ‘Gender differences in the use of persuasive justifications in children’s pretend-play’. In Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz and Birch Moonwomon (eds) Locating Power: Proceedings of the Second Berkeley Women and Language Conference Vol. 2 326–337. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Women and Language Group.
Kyratzis, Amy (2001) Children’s gender indexing in language: From the separate world hypothesis to considerations of culture, context and power. Research on Gender and Social Interaction 34(1): 1–13.
Lakoff, Robin (1973) Language and the woman’s place. Language in Society 2: 45–80.
Lytra, Vally (2007) Play Frames and Social Identities. Contact Encounters in a Greek Primary School. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Makri-Tsilipakou, Marianthi (2002) Agreement/disagreement: Affiliative vs disaffiliative display in cross-sex conversations. In Soula Pavlidou (ed.) Language-Gender-Sex 97–144. Thessaloniki: Paratiritis.
Maltz, Daniel N. and Borker, Ruth A. (1982) A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In John J. Gumperz (ed.) Communication, Language and Social Identity 196–216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mills, Sara (2003) Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mitchell-Kernan, Claudia and Kernan, T. Keith (1977) Pragmatics of directive choice among children. In Susan Ervin-Tripp and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan (eds) Child Discourse 189–208. New York/ London: Academic Press Inc.
Nakamura, Keiko (1996) The use of polite language by Japanese preschool children. In Dan I. Slobin, Julie Gerhardt, Amy Kyratzis and Jiansheng Guo (eds) Social Interaction, Social Context and Language: Essays in Honor of Susan Ervin-Tripp 235–250. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula (1999) ‘Verbal initiative in classroom interaction’. In Greek Linguistics ’97: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Greek Language 648–656. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.
Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula (2001) Politeness in the classroom? Evidence from a Greek highschool. In Arin Bayraktaro?lou and Maria Sifianou (eds) Linguistic Politeness Across Boundaries: The Case of Greece and Turkey 105–136. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Sacks, Harvey (1992) Lectures on Conversation. Oxford: Blackwell.
Schegloff, Emanuel (1988) Presequences and indirection: Applying speech act theory to ordinary conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 12(1): 55–62.
Schegloff, Emanuel (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction. A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sheldon, Amy (1992) Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic challenges to self-assertion and how young girls meet them. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 38: 95–117.
Sheldon, Amy (1996) You can be a baby brother but you aren’t born yet: Preschool girls’ negotiation for power and access in pretend play. Research on Language and Social Interaction 29: 57–80.
Sifianou, Maria (1992) Politeness Phenomena in Greek and in English. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sinclair, Anne and Van Gessel, Ruth (1990) The form and function of questions in children’s conversations. Journal of Pragmatics 14(6): 923–944.
Tannen, Deborah (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: Ballantine Books.
Thorne, Barrie (1993) Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Watts, Richard J. (2003) Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zimmerman, Don H. and West, Candace (1975) ‘Sex roles, interactions and silences in conversation’. In Barrie Thorne and Nancy Henley (eds) Difference and Dominance 105–129. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Published
2010-06-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Georgalidou, M. (2010). Gender Differences in the Discourse of Greek Children Play-Groups. Gender and Language, 3(2), 209-248. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v3i2.209
