Remembered voices

Abstract

The speech children spontaneously quote was examined in two studies. In Study 1, a corpus of personal narratives from 96 children aged 4;0 to 9;0 was analysed; Study 2 investigated reported speech in 25 younger children aged 1;2 to 5;2 interacting with their parents. In both studies, the frequency of reported speech increased with age. Direct quotation was more common than indirect or summarized quotation at all ages. In Study 1, children quoted themselves more frequently than any other speaker, and their mothers more frequently than their fathers. Directives were the most commonly reported speech act from the distant past in both older (Study 1) and younger (Study 2) children. In Study 1, girls used reported speech more frequently than did boys, and their quotations were more direct in form than were those of boys.