The conversational style of Estonian mothers

Abstract

Previous research suggests that Estonian mothers of 2-year-olds are more interested in the control of their children's behaviour than in prompting conversational participation. The present study aims to investigate whether the finding holds true also for Estonian mothers of 4-year-old children. In addition, the amount and type of regulatory language used by mothers with 2-year-olds and 4-year-olds in two activity settings are compared: during meals and in puzzle-solving activities. Maternal utterances aimed at directing children's attention, physical activity and verbal activity were coded (imperatives, declaratives, questions). To establish the level of children's linguistic abilities, MLU and the longest utterance were calculated. The results showed that, although mothers directed more regulatory language to younger children than to older children, the pattern of using regulative language was the same with both age groups. Mothers were concerned chiefly with regulating physical activity and elicited little conversation. The preferred sentence type was imperative. In the younger age group, significantly more regulation of children's attention and physical activity occurred during puzzle solving than at meals. Some pecularities of Estonian language and culture are discussed that might determine the style of regulatory language used by Estonian mothers.