On the Functional Analyses of Soc Ial Class Differences in Modes of Speech

The present research centered upon the analysis of functional contrasts and social class differences in such contrasts in speech samples of fifth and sixth grade children selected from socioeconomic extremes in the Detroit area. The aim was to map such contrasts onto some of the contemporary speculationsabout social class differences in modes of speech and implications concerning the language problems of the disadvantaged. Results indicated that the lower class children, as compared with higher class children, tended: (1) to avoid elaboration in their responses to fieldworker probes unless specifically prompted to elaborate, (2) to have some tendency to speak more in the first person or else without any explicit grammatical perspective, (3) to employ a lesser degree of organization among their remarks when engaged in elaboration, and (4) to employ interjections presumably more directed to their role in the interview than to topical elaboration. The foregoing contrasts were interpreted in terms of more generic descriptions of modes of speech and the application of this concept to the language distinctions of the socioeconomically disadvantaged. In the main was the implication that social class differences in language development might best be researched by the more carefUL study of differenc~s in toe tunctional demands placed upon the development of children IS communication behaviors. I i,