1.2.3

Interactionism 2

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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:

Illustrative background for 1) The maxim of quantityIllustrative background for 1) The maxim of quantity ?? "content

1) The maxim of quantity

  • The contributions must carry enough information (and not too much).
Illustrative background for 2) The maxim of qualityIllustrative background for 2) The maxim of quality ?? "content

2) The maxim of quality

  • The contributions must be truthful.
Illustrative background for 3) The maxim of relationIllustrative background for 3) The maxim of relation ?? "content

3) The maxim of relation

  • The contributions must be relevant and pertinent to discussion.
Illustrative background for 4) The maxim of mannerIllustrative background for 4) The maxim of manner ?? "content

4) The maxim of manner

  • The contributions must be clear and limit ambiguity.

Challenging Interactionist Theory

The following theories challenge interactionist theory:

Illustrative background for __Cliff Pye__ Illustrative background for __Cliff Pye__  ?? "content

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.
Illustrative background for __Myzor__Illustrative background for __Myzor__ ?? "content

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.
Illustrative background for __Chomsky__Illustrative background for __Chomsky__ ?? "content

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.
Illustrative background for __De Villiers and De Villiers__Illustrative background for __De Villiers and De Villiers__ ?? "content

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.

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