Dynamics of Sociolinguistic Development in the First and Second Language

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Pfeiffer, M. & Anna, M. (2021): Longitudinalkorpus Eltern-Kind-Interaktion (LEKI). University of Potsdam.

In our contribution, we examine communicative factors that influence dialect-standard variability in the language use of a young child who grows up in a situation of “bidialectism” (Chevrot & Ghimenton 2018). Aiming to contribute to a better understanding of the acquisition of sociolinguistic variability, a research field of growing interest (e.g. de Vogelaer & Katerbow 2017, Ghimenton et al. 2021), we show that the activity of pretend play is the most powerful predictor of variety alternation.
Building on the Longitudinalkorpus Eltern-Kind-Interaktion (LEKI, Pfeiffer & Anna 2021), a longitudinal corpus containing audiovisual recordings of natural family interactions in Southwestern Germany over the course of three years (age of the children: approx. 1;6-4;0), we focus on one child in a family, in which the local Alemannic dialect is the dominant variety. With at least one recording of around an hour per month, this corpus is characterized by a high density of data by the same individual, which enables us to conduct longitudinal analyses. Furthermore, it allows us to compare the child's linguistic behavior with regard to dialect-standard variability with that of the parents, that is the primary input the child is exposed to.
Adopting an interactional sociolinguistic approach (Gumperz 1982, 2015), we identify the activities that promote transitions from Alemannic to Standard German, or vice versa, in the child’s as well as the parents’ talk. Specifically, we look at code-switching asking „in which activities do bilinguals tend so switch from one language [or variety] into the other“ (Auer 1995: 120). While for parents reading aloud (e.g. a picture book) to the child is the main context that fosters the use of Standard German, the child tends to switch to Standard German when 'speaking in a role' during pretend play, i.e. all “play activities characterized by an ‘as-if’ stance” (Lillard et al. 2013: 2). This activity is the most prominent predictor for the use of Standard German variants (for code-switching in pretend play see also e.g. Kleemann 2013), an observation which is supported by statistical corpus analysis. Functionally, the use of Standard German by this dialect-dominant child in pretend play sequences serves as a contextualization cue (Gumperz 1982, Auer 1986).