Interactionism 2

Q: Interactionism - Grice

In 1975, __Grice__ proposed a set of maxims to define features which must be present in conversation – he calls these cooperative principles (things which people must do to cooperate in conversation). His maxims are as follows:

Study on Seneca

Complete the interactive activities in the Seneca app to work towards your CPD certificate.

Interactionism - Grice

In 1975, Grice proposed a set of maxims to define features which must be present in conversation – he calls these cooperative principles (things which people must do to cooperate in conversation). His maxims are as follows:

1) The maxim of quantity

The contributions must carry enough information (and not too much).

2) The maxim of quality

The contributions must be truthful.

3) The maxim of relation

The contributions must be relevant and pertinent to discussion.

4) The maxim of manner

The contributions must be clear and limit ambiguity.

Challenging Interactionist Theory

The following theories challenge interactionist theory:

Cliff Pye

Cliff Pye researched how different cultures learn language.
His research detailed that children around the world acquired language at roughly the same time and that not all cultures used CDS.
- For example, Samoan families do not speak to the children until they are around 18 months old. This implies that language acquisition may be more innate.

Myzor

Myzor believes that CDS helps to aid social development, but does not help linguistic development.
- For example, it may teach children turn-taking in conversation, but not aid their ability to use correct forms.

Chomsky

Chomsky in particular takes issue with Bruner’s work.
In 1959, he published a paper criticising Bruner’s theory on a number of flaws.
Chomsky questions how children produce utterances that are grammatically non-standard to the point where no caregiver would have said them – errors often happen that are not present in the template.

De Villiers and De Villiers

De Villiers and De Villiers state that it is rare for caregivers to give direct feedback about the correctness of their language, so there must be something more innate.