Children's Comprehension of Adult Social Control Through Language

KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE I. Kurcz, G.W. Shugar and J.H. Danks (editors) © Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland), ) 986

573

CHILDREN'S COMPREHENSION OF ADULT SOCIAL CONTROL THROUGH LANGUAGE Maria Przetacznik -Gierowska

The chapter deals with the modes of social control reflected in child language over the age span 4 to 14 and their dependence on the child's local environment (city, small town, village) and on the social stratification typical of urban families in Poland (on criteria of parental education and occupation). Depicted situations, representing "bad" and "good" behavior were shown to children. Verbal responses to one situation ("Breaking a window") were analyzed in detail and contrasted with the corresponding British findings. The results showed developmental and environmental differences between imperative and appellative modes of social control speech produced by children. Frequency and production indices of particular categories, such as commands, threats, punishments (imperative control) and rule giving, reparation seeking, disapprobation (appellative control) were also differentiated. The clearest and most significant differences were found between the extreme urban socio-cultural groups and between the youngest and oldest children, irrespective of milieu. Appellative modes of control dominated among subjects belonging to more highly-educated families and amongst older children. The results are discussed in the context of Bernstein's theory and in the light of the moral development conceptions of Piaget and Kohlberg. The study reported in this paper is part of a broader research program on the socio-cultural factors affecting children's language differentiation. The theoretical and methodological basis of this research is the sociolinguistic theory of Basil Bernstein (1965, 1971, 1973, 1975) and the sociosemantic theory of M. A. K. Halliday (1975, 1978). Although the works of these authors differ as far as their aim and scope is concerned, both have in common a functional approach to language phenomena and both attribute great importance to the social factors of language acquisition and the development of communicative competence.

574

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS AND RESEARCH GOALS According to Halliday, meaning potential develops from the socially determined potential of behavior. From this meaning potential a person makes options in the process of communication with the environment. Bernstein, on the other hand, emphasizes the importance of the child's participation in the social group, especially in the family that is responsible for his rearing and socialization. In the family the child acquires a specific language code, either restricted or elaborated, which provides the framework for the child to choose and organize acts of speech in the process of communication. The child's socialization in the family occurs in typical educational situations called socializing or critical contexts (Bernstein, 1973; Halliday, 1978). One such is the regulative context which embraces the situations in which

children learn

different modes of behavior and acquire systems of moral judgment as well as rules and norms represented by the adults, particularly the parents. The modes of control of the child's behavior, compatible or contradictory to those norms and standards, are determined by society and culture. From Bernstein's point of view, social modes of control are diversified according to the social structure of the family, its status in the society, and the dominant system of roles. In the earlier version of his theory Bernstein emphasized or even overestimated the importance of the social class to which the family belonged, i.e., working or middle class. In the later version he emphasized the significance of the linguistic code in the course of the child's acquisition of social roles, among these the system of family roles. The function of the linguistic code is to mediate in the transmission of meanings, relationships,

and cultural values.

Bernstein's analysis of

dominant role systems led to a division of families into "positional" and "personaliHtic" ones. Parents take into account either the unchanging status of family members or their individual personality traits. In the regulative context the closed system of communication in positional families implies an imper-

575

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

ative mode of control (commands, prohibitions, punishments) and so-called positional appeals referring to the child's duties and obligations implied by his family status. An open system of communication in personalistic families gives preference to persuasion and explanation of rules and standards of behavior. Such a system takes into account the individual dispositions and possibilities of the child, in accordance with which appeals are directed personally. Of the four types of contexts (regulative, instructional, imagina ti ve or innova ti ve, and interpersonal) in which the trans-mission of linguistic codes occurs, it is the first which apparently is particularly decisive in revealing the ways in which the adult socializes the child. In empirical studies based on Bernstein's theory researchers have mainly addressed the problem of how mothers control children's behavior and how children perceive and comprehend these modes of control. Since direct observation of maternal modes of control presents difficulties, a standardized questionnaire was worked out to obtain information from mothers on family rearing styles in typical everyday situations (Brandis, 1973). Since obtaining such information is practically impossible from children, especially young children, either by conversation or questionnaire, a picture story method was used. These stories were exempla ficta of real situations experienced by the child (Turner, 1973). In the depicted events children represented agents of the actions and adults the controlling persons. The subjects ascribe to the latter verbal and nonverbal behaviors, thus revealing their perception of the social roles connected with regulation of behavior. The children's utterances were referred to as control speech. Both methodological approaches described above, used by Bernstein's collaborators at the University of London

in the

early 1970s, seemed to us worth considering. Since our main goal was the study of linguistic differentiation of children reared in diverse socia-cultural environments, our research data in the regulative context consisted of children's control speech

576

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

reflecting the social control of behavior. The results obtained by Turner (1973) showed a relationship between the control speech of children aged 5 and 7 and their affiliation to social class, either working or middle class. In the utterances of both younger and older children of working class families, the dominant type of control was the imperative, while in the utterances of children from middle class families the dominant type was appellative, i.e., based on personal appeals. A study of the relationship between type of behavioral control and social structure in Poland could not however be limited to a class division based on socio-economic status. We assumed a different kind of division of the socio-cultural environment in which rearing and socialization processes occur. This division corresponds to the factual divisions of communities living in local environments, that is, cities, small towns. and villages. In large urban centers we distinguished four socia-cultural groups of families differing according to parents' educational and occupational status. Social and professional prestige and advancement is connected with these divisions (Wesolowski, 1974). On these sociological assumptions, research started in 1976 in the Laboratory of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Jagiellonian University. The goal was to find answers to questions whether children's perception and comprehension of adult modes of control is related to the following factors:

(1)

character of the local environment which imposes socio-cultural patterns and specific customs on the majority of families living there (in city, small town, and village);

(2) the social

stratification typical for city families, in this case, the four socio-cultural groups distinguished according to parental education and occupation. Our

hypothese~

referred to both environmental and develop-

mental aspects of children's control speech as manifested in experimental situations where children reveal their perception

Comprehension of Adult Socii" Control through Language

577

of adult control over their behavior. We predicted that, as concerns local environments, differences would be found in the more frequent occurrence of the appellative mode of control in the city, and of the imperative mode of control in the village. The small town would be a kind of intermediate environment, where a balance between the two modes of social control of behavior would be found. In the city, the imperative mode of control would occur more frequently in cases of children whose parents have a lower educational status (primary or vocational only), while the appellative mode of control would be more in evidence in cases of children whose parents have a higher education (college or university). The age factor was very likely to modify these assumptions. In respect of older children who have been under the levelling influence of the school for a longer period, environmental differences would tend to disappear. Thus these differences would be more distinct in reference to younger children. Of course, there is probably the influence of other factors as well, such as teachers' individual modes of control over pupils' behavior and peer influences, but these problems require separate study. At this point, it is worth noting that the British researchers limited themselves to studying younger children aged 5 and 7. Children in England start school at 5, while children in Poland start school at 7. Until that age they remain under the influence of the family, or, if mothers are employed, of the nursery school. In this study we included older children as well, that is, higher primary school grade pupils (in Poland, children attend

primary school to the age of 14 or 15). It

seemed to us that during early adolescence, when the transition from heteronomous to autonomous morality occurs, connected with internalization of norms and rules of behavior (cf. Piaget, 1957), important qualitative changes could be expected to appear in children's perception and comprehension of social control employed by adults and in their attitudes to forms of control observed in the world of grown-ups. One more problem remains to be clarified. The British

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

578

researchers refer the notion of behavioral control only to negative situations, that is, when children transgress the norms imposed by adults. However

the notion of social control beha-

vior would seem to have a broader scope. From the point of view of adult reactions which consist both of negative (punishment) and positive (reward) reinforcement, at a certain stage in our research we included pictorial representations of actions compatible with social norms, meriting approval, praise, appreciation, etc. Therefore, we could predict that ways of rewarding children for "good behavior" are also diversified: verbal praise, concrete reward, or adult expression of positive emotion. In the case of the younger children as well as of the rural children, we would expect utterances that suggest positional rewards. The same would apply to the urban children whose parents had only primary or vocational education. Since our research is still explorative in the area of control speech in positive situations, we have not yet collected sufficient data to verify these hypotheses fully. Like Bernstein and his collaborators, we examined the typical features of children's control speech on the semantic and syntactic levels. Both these language levels are implicated in an analysis of speech in a regulative context. Imperative and appellative modes of control take different language forms, more or less developed,

but each of these modes realizes a

certain meaning potential, characteristic of the

particular

type of control as expressed in the given language code. It is thus possible to link the use of the restricted code with imperative control and the use of the elaborated code with appellative control. This is expected to hold particularly for the younger children, since it might be assumed that older children and adolescents can operate skilfully with both language codes. Furthermore, in an experimental situation, in the presence of an experimenter whom these children identify with a teacher, there may be a tendency to use the elaborated speech variant.

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

579

METHOD Procedure The basic procedure was to sho\l the children picture story cards (single or in series) which represented negative or positive social situations. The situations in which children behaved in contravention of social norms referred to (1) causing unintentional harm to other people ("Breaking a window" -- see Figure 1) or to themselves ("Bathing in a forbiden place"), (2) causing intentional harm ("Stealing apples"). Situations of posi ti ve beha v i o r referred to (1) assisting other people ("Helping the elderly lady") or animals ("Repairing the feeder"), (2) restoring order in a public place ("Cleaning the yard"). The children were interviewed individually. The interviewer showed the pictures to the child and said: "I am going to show you some pictures and you tell me what happened here." After the child had told the story, the experimenter briefly verbalized the main content of the event, for example: "The children were playing with a ball and broke the window", "The children are helping the woman to carry wood." Then the experimenter pointed to the adult in the picture and asked, "What is that man/woman saying?". If the child said, "I don't know" or shrugged his shoulders, he was asked, "What do you think he/she might be saying?" The picture "Breaking a window" (Figure 1) was shown to children of all age groups and from all local environments. However, slight modifications were introduced in the picture story cards as compared to those used by Turner. Both boys and girls participated in the depicted action and the kind of game

Figure 1. One of four pictures telling the story of "Breaking a window".

580

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

was not clearly defined (Turner showed boys playing football). The purpose Vias to facilitate identification of the subjects with the participants in the depicted game. Other elements also facilitated identification, such as physical features of actors suggesting age and gender. The 14-year olds were shown a picture representing the outcome of a game and the witnesses. In each case the experimenter made sure the child understood the meaning of the event; this turned out to be straightforward, even for the youngest subjects. Identification here refers to a sense of belonging to a group of children and of being a possible participant, rather than emotional identification with the actor and a corresponding feeling of guilt. As concerns the depicted adult witnesses of the events, possibly the child identifies them with his parents. Or he may see them as people outside the family, even as total strangers. We assume however that these people always represent the role of adults and witnesses of children's behavior more or less interested in the effects of actions. Even if the child does not identify the depicted adults with his parents (the instruction states: "man" or "woman", not "mother" or "father") he presumably attributes to them the modes of control known to him from his own experience in the family and in other social interactions. Aware of all the limitations imposed by experimental situations, we assume that the screen of projection in such a situation allows for revealing authentic modes of control, those which the children have encountered in the course of socialization. Coding Frame Categorization of the children's utterances was modeled on the coding frame worked out by the British researchers (Bernstein & Cook, 1965; Turner, 1973). This classification took into account both the network of semantic choices serving to realize socially significant behavior patterns, and the grammatical features of their expression. In this coding frame two types of control speech were distinguished: role-play and nonrole-playing speech. In the first case the child quotes or reports the speech of the people in the story, while in the second the child does not report the imagined speech of the adults but describes their verbal behavior and their affective states. The main categories of non-role-play speech according to Turner are: authority figure (mother, father, policeman), affective state of the participant, verbal or nonverbal punishment. Roleplay speech contains the following categories: command, threat, rule giving, disapprobation, reparation seeking, and supplementary utterances such as explanation and questions. In both of the above speech conventions there is a connection with the modes of social control: imperative and appellative. In the role-play speech frame in negative situations the categories of rule giving, disapprobation, and reparation seeking indicate control based on appeals, while the categories of command and threat indicate imperative control. As concerns nonrole-play speech, the category of participants' affective state (e.g., "mother got upset") is connected with appellative control,

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

581

and categories of punishment, verbal ("this lady scolded them") or physical ("the man whacked him"), with imperative control. Further subdivisions were made in the role-play speech according to expressive modes. Certain modifications of the above coding system were made in analyzing our data. As concerns the negative situations, we introduced modifications justified both by the complexity of older children's utterances and by differences in the structure of the Polish and English languages and differences in use of the semantic network. Despite numerous trials, we have for the moment given up the attempt to introduce finer subcategories that take into consideration grammatical as well as intonational and prosodic features. We have also given up the division mto non-role-play speech and role-play speech. This latter distinction seemed overly formal and of little importance to the main goal of our research. Furthermore, the older children sometimes produced a combination of both types of speech (e.g., "The man took the ball away from them and said, 'I will call the policeman'"). The following control speech categories were adopted in reference to negative situations -- retaining as far as possible Turner's terminology (the abbreviations used in the tables are given in parentheses): Imperative 1. Commands and prohibitions (Comm.) 2. Threats 3. Punishment (Punish.) 4. Authority figures (Auth.F.) Appellative 5. 6. 7. 8.

Rule giving (Rule G.) Reparation seeking (Repar.S.) Disapprobation (Disapp.) Affective state of participant (Affec. S.)

In the case of the youngest children, and sporadically of the older as well, utterances occurred that did not fit any of the above categories. These included, for example, descriptive statements about the event and its outcome ("The children were playing ball", "The boys went off home", "The mommy called the girl in to breakfast"), or reply avoidance ("I don't know"). Being few in number and usually occurring together with others that answered to the categories of control speech, these utterances were excluded from the quantitative analyses. For the positive situations we used the same instruction as for the negative situations, showing the event depicted in pictures. Categorization of utterances was based on the criterion whether the child's speech referred to agents of "good actions" or to the affective state of adult witnesses to the event. As to the former, the following cate,ories were used: (1) concrete reward, (2) approval of the child s behavior, (3) praise of the child's action. As to the latter, the categories were: (1) expression of thanks, (2) expression of pleasure, (3) expression

582

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

of gratitude. A separate category concerned evaluation of personality traits of the depicted child ar,ent. Both personal evaluation and appeals to feelings of witnesses ,IQuld seem to be associated with appellative control, while references to material reward for a good deed would seem to be of a positional control nature, similarly as -- although to a lesser degree -approval and praise of behavior. Subjects Speech samples were obtained from 583 children (including 40 five-year olds who took part in the pilot study). The following tables show the distribution of subjects from three local environments (Table 1) and from four socio-cultural urban groups (Table 2). Table 1 Distribution of Subjects by Age and Local Environment Age

Local environment

4

7

12

20

30

30

Small town (Slawkow)

13

30

26

Village (Barcice)

19

30

30

52

90

86

City (Cracow)

Total (N

= 228)

Subjects from the three local environments (Table 1) were shown only negative situations in pictures. Subsequently (in 1982), 90 children from another rural environment (near t6dz) aged 8, 10, and 12, were included in the research project. These children were shown two negative and two positive situations. Urban eight-year olds were shown negative situations and urban fourteen-year olds both negative and positive situations As mentioned before, the criterion of division into urban socio-cultural groups was parental educational and occupational status. To ensure homogeneity of groups, the sample (see Table 2) included only children having both parents, mother employed, with only slight differences between the educational background of the two parents. Thus Group A consisted of children whose parents had higher education (university or higher professional school), Group B -- parents with secondary education, Group C -- parents with basic vocational education, Group D -- parents with full or incomplete primary education. Employment was in conformity with educational background: parents in groups A and B were intelligentsia and white-collar employees while parents in groups C and D were skilled or unskilled (blue-collar) workers.

583

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

Table 2 Distribution of Urban Subjects by Age and Socio-Cultural Background Group

Age

Background

8

14

A

Higher education

28

30

B

Secondary education

30

30

C

Basic vocational education

27

30

D

Primary education

20

30

105

120

Total (N

=

225)

RESULTS Because of the limited size of the sample, statistical analysis covers only the data for the two main modes of control, imperative and appellative, which is sufficient to verify our hypotheses. The more specific subcategories within the main control categories

will be presented descriptively by use of

two indices. The first index is called index of category production (IP); it is calculated as the percentage of children who produce utterances belonging to a given category at least once. The second index, called index of category frequency (IF) is calculated in relation to the number of utterances produced in a given group of children. The second index is the more important one, since it reflects better than IP the saturation of subjects' control speech in given categories of behavioral control ascribed to adults as well as the subjects' preferred choices of category. Further, IP should be interpreted cautiously, particularly for the youngest group (age

4), due to the small size of

the population under study. In this report we apply the described procedure to one negative situation ("Breaking a window"), which was used for all groups in the research project. The control speech in positive situations is only characterized descriptively by the index of category frequency (IF).

584

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

The proportions of main categories and subcategories constituting the two modes of control (imperative and appellative) were calculated for the total number of utterances per child, thus obtaining the frequency distributions for each category and each group of children. To establish developmental and environmental differences, the within- and cross-group distributions were compared on the Kruskal-Wallis test. The hypothesis claiming environmental determination of control speech was not supported by the data.

Differences be-

tween utterances of children living in city, small town, and village turned out to be non-significant. The frequency distribution of options in the main categories, imperative and appellative -- or the composite variables, showed little diversification. The degree of diversification varied with age. In four-year olds a tendency toward locality-based differences was found, but results were highly similar at the older ages in all three local environments. Although the relations between the main categories differed only slightly, more distinct differences showed up within the subcategories. We will discuss this later. The hypothesis about a dependency of urban children's control speech on parental educational and occupational status was supported for both age groups (8 and 14). Contrary to our expectations, this dependency was more pronounced in the older group. For the eight-year olds significant differences were found between the merged group A + B and the merged group C + D 2 (chi 3.86. df = 1, P <.05). (Between groups A and B and between C and D no significant differences were found for either age 8 or age 14.) For the fourteen-year olds, differences were 2 even more distinct (chi = 7.64; df = 1, P <.01). The direction of the interrelations

was in agreement with the hypothesis.

The frequency of utterances in the appellative control framework was significantly higher for children with more highly educated parents, and conversely, the frequency of utterances in the imperative control framework was higher for children with parents of lower educational status.

585

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

A further analysis was addressed to age-related differences leaving aside the environment.

(Since differences across child-

ren from city, small town, and village were not significant, local environments were lumped together.) Between four- and 2 seven-year olds no differences were found (chi = 0.28, df = 1) while between seven- and twelve-year olds significant differences were established (chi 2 = 7.96; df = 1, p<.01). For the four socio-cultural urban milieus, age differences in the merged groups A + Band C + D were compared separately. In both cases we obtained highly signifj.cant differences between 2 eight- and fourteen-year olds (for groups A + B, chi = 12.19, 2 df = 1. p<.001, and for groups C + D, chi = 12.60, df = 1, p<.001). In both merged groups the frequency of utterances in the imperative category was significantly lower for fourteenthan for eight-year olds and, vice versa, the frequency of utterances in the appellative control category was significantly higher for fourteen- than for eight-year olds. The general picture obtained is

that imperative control decreases with age,

starting at 7, as regards children's perception of control modes employed by adults. We return now to the finding, mentioned before, that distinct differences were obtained between the indices of control speech category production (IP) and between the frequency indices (IF) of these categories. IP tells us what percentage of the children in the various age and environmental groups produce a given category at least once, while IF tells us the frequency of utterances of the given category produced in the various groups. While both indices reflect the scope of perception and comprehension of the behavioral control modes used by adults, the first index permits only a statement whether a given control category is used at all by the subjects, while the second tells us the extent to which the category is preferred. The data reflecting the environmental differentiation from these two viewpoints are presented in Tables 3 and

4.

In analyzing the production index (IP) in Table 3 trarily decided that, if 50

% or

we arbi-

more of the children used a

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M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

Table 3 Production Indices (IP) of Control Speech Categories for Three Environments: City (C) , Small Town (T) , Village (V)

C N (Ss)

20

Age 4 T 13

Imperative control Comm. 70.0 61. 5 Threats 15.0 7.7 Punish. 35.0 7.7 Auth.F. 0 5.0 Appellative control Rule G. 60.0 46.1 Repar.S. 15.0 0 Disapp. 60.0 0 Affec.S. 5.0 7.7

V

C

19

30

47.4 31.6 21. 0 0 68.4 10.5 15.8 5.3

Age 7 T

Age 12 T

V

C

30

30

30

26

30

70.0 20.0 26.7 10.0

60.0 36.7 33.3 10.0

33.3 33.3 13.3 0

66.7 50.0 33.3 26.7

69.2 57.7 15.3 11.5

46.7 46.7 10.0 6.7

56.7 16.7 83.3 10.0

36.7

26.7 20.0 60.0 6.7

50.0 56.7 83.3 86.7

46.1 50.0 80.7 53.8

56.7 70.0 80.0 43.3

3.3 56.7 13 .3

V

control speech category at least once, the extent of familiari-· ty with this category was large (which does not of course overlap with its frequency of use). As it turned out (see Table 3), as concerns imperative control, the 50 % criterion was overshot by children of city and small town environments in all age groups for Commands and by twelve-year olds (excepting village children) for Threats. The lowest IP value (below 10 %) was for Authority Figures in the four- and seven-year-old groups of all environments, and also for Threats and Punishment in the youngest small-town children. Since the last mentioned group was the smallest in size of all the groups studied, this result (as well as all results for this age group) should be treated with caution. A different picture emerged of the structure of the categories making up imperative control from the analysis of the frequency indices (IF) in Table 4. Although our sample sizes do not entitle us to draw a statistically-based conclusion concerning the frequency distribution of the categories, certain differences are obvious. The IF for Commands drops for twelve-year

587

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

Table 4 Frequency Indices (IF) of Control Speech Categories for Three Environments: City (C), Small Town (T), Village (V) Age C

N (utter.)

86

T

4

Age 12

Age 7 V

C

59

117

T

V

T

V

217

C

150

148

16.0 16.0 2.7 2.7

11.5 12.8 2.0 2.0

97

83

27.8 15.5 10.3 3.1

16.9 19.3 4.8

o

27.3 6.8 7.7 2.6

o

15.2 10.1 5.5 4.6

Total 47.7 51.3 Appellative control Rule G. 29.0 46.0 nepar.S. 5.8 0 Disapp. 16.3 0 Affec.S. 1.2 2.7

47.4

44.4

56.7

41.0

35.4

37.4

28.3

40.7 5.1 5.1

1 5.5

1 .7

17.9 4.3 30.8 2.6

1.0 21.6 5.2

14.5 8.4 32.5 3.6

13.0 8.3 25.8 17.5

10.6 11. 3 26.0 14.7

16.2 19.6 27.1 8.8

Total

52.6

55.6

43.3

59.0

64.6

62.6

71.7

37

Imperative control Comm. 31.4 45.9 Threats 5.8 2.7 Punish. 9.3 2.7 Auth.F. 1.2 0

52.5

48.7

23.7 13.5 10.2

olds as compared to the younger children. Comparing the three iocal environments, the IF for this category was lowest in the village across all age groups. Village children, however, more often than their peers in city and small town, used the category Threats (though not at the age of 12). From a comparison of the two indices we concluded that the fact that a given category of imperative control is produced by a majority of the children does not always mean that this is their preferred category. For example, Commands and Threats produced by the majority of the twelve-year olds (Table 3) were used less frequently by them than by the younger children (Table 4). The content and linguistic form of Commands including prohibitions distinguished the younger children from the older ones, and the urban children from those of the other environments. Indirect speech forms were more common among the younger

588

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

than among the older children, particularly small-town and vil1, lage children ("He told them not to play here" T /7 "He told the children to go off" V/7), although commands and prohibitions were likewise expressed in direct speech ("Go off! Don't come back here" V/4, "Next time don't come around here to play ball" T/7). Threats uttered by children from town and village contained either a general forewarning of punishment ("I'll teach you a lesson!" V/7, "I'll show you next time!" V/4), or were a more elaborate warning of physical punishment ("If he sees them playing ball once again, he will beat them" T/7). The category Punishment, seldom occurring, is related in content to threats, i.e., the threat is carried out. Punishment is expressed in narrative speech when the child recounts the nonverbal behavior of the adult ("This man chased them out" T/7, "He shook his fist at them" T/7, "He took the ball away from them" T/4). Among the Authority Figures the children very rarely mentioned parents, policemen, and doorkeepers. High production indices for appellative control (see Table 3) were obtained for nearly all the environmental groups of the twelve-year olds. The highest values (80 found for Disapprobation

% and

above) were

in the twelve-year olds. The IP for

this category was also high for the seven-year olds, particularly urban children. The majority of the youngest urban children also used it. However, four-year olds in the remaining environmental groups either did not produce this category at all (town) or only in rare cases (village). Surprisingly high was the IP for the category Affective State of Participant in the oldest children, particularly urban (86.7

%).

So we see that the pro-

duction indices differentiate the studied groups both in developmental and environmental terms. In the latter case, the urban group stands apart from the remaining two. The structure of the categories constituting appellative control is also differentiated on the frequency index (IF) according to local environment, but without distinct tendencies.

1 The capital letter stands for City, Town, or Village, the number refers to the age group.

589

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

Qualitative and quantitative characteristics are not easily separated. Thus, Rule Giving, which appeared very frequently in the youngest children, was expressed as a norm referring to a concrete action and its effects ("You're not allowed to kick that far and break windows" T/4), whereas this category in older age groups for all localities -- where IF is reduced by half -- was rather concerned with general rules of behavior in the ball play setting and its appropriate location ("You shouldn't play near a house" T/7, "You can play ball in the woods but not near windows" V/7, "That's what the playground is for" C/12). Occasionally reference was made to the child's position, e.g., gender ("If she's a girl, she shouldn't play ball and break windows" C/12). Reparation Seeking seldom appeared in the youngest children. Its IF for twelve-year olds was twice as high in the village as in the other two environments. Rural children as young as 7 used this category more often than did children elsewhere. The category Affective State of Participant appeared with greater frequency only in the twelve-year olds (IF

= 17.3,

14.0, 8.7, from city to village). Examples of such utterances are:

"This man is very angry at those children" C/12, "The

children are scared at breaking the window pane and some of them began to cry" T!12.

Disapprobation obtained a high IF in

the seven- and twelve-year olds, but only the urban four-year olds used it. Disapprobation was expressed mainly by such epithets as naughty, silly, bad, rude. There were also questions implying admonition: "Why are you kicking the ball by the window?" V/7, "Why can't you play nicely?"

C/12.

We then analyzed the production and frequency of control speech categories for the urban socio-cultural groups. The respective indices are presented in Tables 5 and

6.

As the production indices (IP) in Table 5 show, as concerns imperative control, the majority of children in all socio-cultural groups, regardless of age (apart from the eight-year olds in Group A), used Commands. Another common phenomenon was the low IP for Punishment and Authority Figures. The category Threats was likewise infrequent in the urban groups, particularly for the younger children.

M. Przetacznik-Gterowska

590

Table 5 Production Indices (IP) of Control Speech Categories for Four Urban Socio-Cultural Groups (A, B, C, D) Age 8 A N (Ss)

28

B

Age 14

C

A

D

B

C

D

30

27

20

30

30

30

30

63.3

63.0

60.0

63.3 26.7

53.3

76.7

80.0

23.3

33.3 10.0

26.7

6.7 3.3

6.7

o

Imperative control Commands

46.4

Threats

17.8

6.7

14.8

20.0

Punishment

7.1

10.0

11 . 1

20.0

Authority F.

3.6

o

3.7

o

o o

6.7

Appellative control Rule Giving

57.1

46.7

14.8

40.0

Reparation S.

32.1

30.0

25.9

30.0

Disapprob. Affective S. of Particip.

64.3

60.0

59.3

60.0

10.7

20.0

25.9

o

50.0 60.0 43.3 93.3 100.0 100.0 60.0 43.3 70.0 16.7

30.0

40.0 93.3 56.7

23.3

3.3

For description of groups (A, B, C, D) see Table 2. A high IP in appellative control was obtained for Reparation Seeking in the older children; nearly 100

% of

the four-

teen-year olds used this category, whereas only about 30

% of

the eight-year olds did so. The majority of children used Disapprobation

at both age levels and in nearly all the socio-

cultural groups (except for the fourteeen-year olds in Group B). A relatively high percentage of children used Rule Giving (40 to 60

%) --

except for the eight-year olds in Group C. Low pro-

duction indices were obtained for Affective State of Participant& The frequency indices for the socio-cultural urban groups (Table 6) differ from the IF findings described before for the local environments (Table 4), although there are also some similarities in category distribution.

Generally, the same catego-

ries appear with similar frequencies and there are also age group similarities, e.g., as between the seven- and eight-year olds. But differences are also apparent in the category structure. Threat is reduced and Reparation Seeking enhanced (especially in fourteen-year olds) in all socio-cultural urban groups

591

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

Table 6 Frequency Indices (IF) of Control Speech Categories for Four Urban Socia-Cultural Groups (A, B, C, D) Age 14

Age 8

B

A N (utter.)

88

C

D

93

84

54

B

C

D

130

145

162

148

A

Imperative control 22.7

26.9

29.8

29.6

17.7

15.9

21.0

27.0

Threats

6.8

2.2

6.0

7.4

6.9

5.5

7.4

Punishment

2.3

3.2

3.6

7.4

0

1.4

1.9

7.4 2.0

Authority F.

1 •1

0

1.2

0

0

0.7

1 .2

0

24.6

23.5

31 .5

Commands

Total

32.3

32.9

40.6

44.4

36.4

Appe lla ti ve control Rule Giving

25.0

20.4

7.1

18.5

16.2

16.6

10.5

9.5

Reparation S.

12.5

9.7

9.5

11 . 1

35.7

29.0

36.5

Disapprob. Affective S. of Particip.

26.2

30.1

30.9

26.0

35.4 20.0

16.6

23.4

16.9

3.4

7.5

11.9

0

7.6

5.6

0.7

Total

67.1

67.7

59.4

76.5

68.5

63.6

55.6

3.8 75.4

For description of groups (A, B, C, D) see Table 2. as compared to the three local environments.

The control speech

of urban children, regardless of socio-cultural family status, was more relaxed.

The children were not intimidated by the ex-

perimental situation, as was observed in the small town and the village settings. Their contact with the experimenter was easy, their answers were well-developed and usually carefully elaborated linguistically.

The fourteen-year olds had no difficulty

in adopting the convention of role-play speech. At this age (particularly in Groups A and B) there was a tendency to stylize utterances by use of intonation and ironical queries or questions aimed at revealing the culprit ("Can't you find er place to play ball?", "Who did that?",

"Who

anot~

broke the glass?").

Disapprobation in both age groups took the form of shaming and deploring: dows" BIB,

"Shame on you for throwing balls and breaking win"Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?" B/14. Rule i.iv-

ing contained appeals to obligation: "You ought not to play

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

592

near windows" B/14, "You should stay home and do your schoolwork" B/14. Commands and prohibitions, apart from expressions often used in all the samples such as, had even stronger forms:

"Get away!", "Be off!",

"Beat it you rascals", "Get away from

here this minute and make it fast!" C/8, "Go away or I'll get angry!" B/8. In this category other meaning options also appeared, oriented to adult intervention, e,g., "Give me your names!" A/14, "Settle this up among yourselves" B/14. Threats sometimes included warning of physical punishment: "If they do it again, they will get licked" D/8. The oldest children's utterances contained appeals not only to parents but also to school authorities: "I'll tell the headmaster"A/14, "I'll tell the teacher" C/14. Finally, referring briefly to the data on control speech in positive situations, our research so far has covered only rural children (90 subjects, 30 per age group: 8, 10, 12 years) and fourteen-year

olds in the four urban socio-cultural milieus

(A, B, C, D-see Table 2). In our preliminary data on the category frequency distribution we found slight differences between the groups as concerns material and verbal rewards. Personal evaluative utterances tended somewhat to increase with age, similarly the category of affective states of participants. We did not note such differences across the socio-cultural groups of

fourteen-year olds in the urban environment.

It is of interest to note that, as compared to negative situations, the children gave fewer responses to pictures that showed "good behavior". Perhaps these pictures were less attractive, although they were representative enough of familiar situa tions.

The most salient findings can be summed up as follows:

(1) Only in eight-year olds is the category of material reward of importance.

(2) With age, evaluation of behavior tends to

shift to evaluation of the agent and his personality.

(3) Affec-

tive states of adult witnesses are expressed rather in polite and conventional, "savoir-vivre" style than in terms of real feelings attributed to participants in the event. ings should be verified on a larger sample, more elaborate method.

These find-

preferably with a

593

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

DISCUSSION The problems considered in this report lie in the domain of psychological, pedagogical, and sociological research addressed to the ways by which patterns and norms holding in a given community and culture are transmitted and reflected in the behavior of children and adolescents in social situations. Presumably this transmission takes place, in the course of an individual's socialization, essentially by means of language --

the product

of society and culture. Social stratification determines, at least to a certain degree, preferences in the choice of linguistic codes and uses of language in various contexts. The reported research deals with the regulatory context and its developmental and environmental determination. The goal of the research was to show how children of different ages, brought up in diverse local environments and in families of diversified socio-cultural status, perceive and comprehend the modes by which their behavior is controlled by adults. It was expected that, of the two main modes of control distinguished by Bernstein (1973) and Turner (1973), imperative control would occur more frequently in the utterances of children from rural communities and appellative control would prevail in the utterances of children from the city. As concerns regulatory language in relation to stratification of the urban community, preference for the imperative mode of control was predicted in children brought up by parents with a lower level of education (primary or vocational), while preference for the appellative mode was predicted in children brought up by parents with secondary or higher education. We started with the hypothesis that environmental variatiom would decrease

with age. Also, developmental factors (apart

from environmental) were expected as well to exert some influence upon the increase of appellative control speech among older children and adolescents. The results presented in this chapter, based mainly on ono experimental situation (ilBreakine; a window ll

) ,

only partially

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

594

support these hypotheses. This calls for a reconsideration of our findings, taking into account both the statistical differences between the main control modes and the data of analysis on category production and frequency. We shall also refer to the data obtained by Turner (1973) who applied the same method in his research on children aged 5 and 7. Developmental Determinants First, let us consider that, as concerns the relative proportions between the two main control modes, developmental determinants were more influential than environmental ones. The direction of this relationship was the same for both variants of our research, as regards the local environment divisions and the socio-cultural urban groups. In both variants, the older the subjects, the higher the statistically significant proportion of utterances expressing the mode of control based upon appeals. An explanation of this tendency can be found in analyses of child and adolescent moral development as well as in analyses of style changes in adult control, especially parental and teacher style. Piaget was the first to reveal the course of moral development from heteronomy to autonomy. His view (Piaget, 1957) is generally accepted by researchers in the field and has been confirmed by numerous empirical studies. Heteronomy, that is, adult-imposed morality, is related to the child's social experience in the period of life when he is subordinated to the will of adults. They are the persons who represent power and authority for him. The source of moral autonomy is interaction with others. In the course of cooperation, the rules of behavior lose their external nature and moral norms are accepted by adolescents as their own, becoming "factors and products of the personality" (Piaget, 1957). Among the ideas of the many psychologists who have developed Piaget's views, the most relevant for this discussion are

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

595

those of Kohlberg (1971, 1973). According to Kohlberg, the preschool child represents a premoral level. He is oriented toward avoidance of punishment, is subordinated to norms based on obedience; later, he has an instrumental orientation, i.e., he thinks that it pays for him as well for others to obey the norms. He adjusts to the rules of behavior when he is under control. He does not yet reveal a sense of guilt, but rather of annoyance, failure, and disappointment when punished. Conventional morality, derived from conformism, is tied to the need for acceptance by others, that is, by the group in which the child participates; subsequently this morality is oriented toward authority and maintenance of the social order. This is an intermediate level between heteronomy and autonomy. Muszy6ski (1983) suggests the term "stage of moral socionomy" for the turning point between childhood and adolescence. The third level distinguished by Kohlberg contains two stages: Stage 5 when morality is based on common standards and duties but also respect of individual rights, and Stage 6 of fully conscious and autonomous morality. The latter is attained only by some older adolescents and some adults. This level is variously referred to in psychology. e.g., as principled morality, rationalism, or moral idealism (Peck & Havighurst, 1960; Bull, 1970; Muszynski, 1983). Between our four-year olds and seven-year olds from all local environments, no significant differences appeared in the distribution of the imperative and appellative modes of control speech. Such differences were noted, and very distinctly, only between the seven- and twelve-year olds from the three local environments as well as between the eight- and fourteen-year olds from all socio-cultural urban groups. The early prevalence of imperative control speech can be explained in the following way: Younger children (aged 4, 7,

and 8) in the negative situ-

ation expect first of all punishment (verbal or physical) from adults for transgressions. On the other hand, older children and adolescents (12 and 14 year old), now at the stage of moral socionomy, tend to expect that in such a situation adults will

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

596

appeal to norms that should be accepted, and will express disapprobation of improper behavior. Some Environmental Differences Yet the question arises why the relative proportions

of

the main control speech categories were so poorly differentiated in the three local environments, whereas

these

differences

showed up significantly in urban children, according to parental educational and occupational status. Two explanations can be ventured. The first suggests a more rapid moral development in children brought up by highly educated parents, the second refers to the varying influence of rearing style in families of different socio-cultural background, as reflected in the children's utterances. As concerns the first explanation, note that in the urban socio-cultural groups the youngest age investigated was age 8, i.e., children one year older than those in the three local environments. Presumably, if their parents used mainly modes of appellative control in the regulatory context, such as persuasion, rule giving, reparation seeking, or disapprobation, these children had the opportunity to reach the stage of conventional morality somewhat earlier than their peers who had little or no exposure to such modes of control. An analysis of environmental differences in the groups of fourteen-year olds favors the second interpretation.

In this

case statistically significant differences in the relative proportions of imperative and appellative control speech stood out even more distinctly. These concern not only the combined groups A + Band

e

+ D (the two "intellectual" and two worker

groups) but also the four groups considered separately, i.e" children reared by highly educated parents (Group A), parents with secondary education (Group B), with basic vocational education

(Group

Thus, during

e), and with only primary education (Group D).

ado~scence,

when autonomous morality is still de-

veloping, the patterns of control

taken over from the parents

are internalized as the dominant ones. A seemingly paradoxical

597

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

phenomenon can be observed during this period. On the one hand, teenagers tend to reject parental authority and rebel against the pressures and constraints on their freedom; they demand that their individual privileges and rights be respected. On the other hand, their morality has the nature

of principled

morality. This is in line with Muszynski's conception that the period of moral autonomy begins with the stage of guidance by principle. The process of internalization of norms is linked with the belief that these norms are the only rightful ones and there are no exceptions from them. These are the norms that have previously been exacted by the parents on the basis of obedience. The apparently paradoxical phenomenon of rejecting parental authority and at the same time revolting against all constraints, as emphasized by many developmentalists (e.g., Oerter & Montada, 1982; Zebrowska, 1983), does not contradict the course of moral development. Indeed, parents model the child's behavior over a long period, and the diminishment of their authority in the child's eyes neither eliminates nor erases the effects of a definite rearing style. Numerous studies by Polish sociologists and

psychologists have shown that

customary patterns, including parental upbringing of children, differ in families of workers and in families of people with intellectual types of occupation ("intelligentsia")

& Ziolkowski, 1976; Kowalski, 1976;

(Piotrowski

Przeclawski, 1968; Tyszka,

1970; Kloskowska, 1965). Among these differences is the predominance of an educational style based on command and prohibition in urban workers' families, where father or mother represent the authoritarian mode of control over children's behavior. Conversely, in the more "intellectual'l families the style of control is more liberal and is based on persuasion, rule explanation, and feeling expression. These specific rearing styles can explain the kinds of patterns observed in control speech. Imitation of these patterns is more clear-cut among older than among younger children. This result was rather unexpected for us, since our hypothesis went in the opposite direction. We had assumed that the impact of school would decrease these differences with age. This notion

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

598

however was not supported. Furthermore, if we had taken into consideration the same age factor in the three local environments

as in the four urban socio-cultural groups, i.e., if we

had considered a group of 14-15 years of age, the differences in control speech between rural and urban children might also have been significant. This could be presumed since at the principled morality stage the effect of long-term socialization in regulatory contexts would be more distinct than for the younger children. A Comparison of Polish and British Findings Plenty of information can be derived from a qualitative analysis of the data. The indices of category production and those of category frequency revealed the specific characteristics of groups differentiated on criteria of age and environment, as shown in the preceding section. We may now compare our findings with those of Turner (1973), discussing only the main results

which indicate similarities and differences between

the British and the Polish results. Turner's research (1973) and also the studies he refers to (Bereiter

& Engelman, 1966; Hess & Shipman, 1968; Newson and

Newson, 1968) suggest that working class mothers typically use "imperative communication" in interaction with their children, while middle class mothers more often use "instructive communication". In the regulatory context the former type of communication is expressed for example in short, sharp commands and, if ineffectual, by punishment and threat. In the latter case, mothers calmly and patiently explain the impropriety of the child's action and tell him how and why he should behave differently. Commands In Turner's experimental situation investigating adult modes of control as reflected in children's speech, he likewise observed environmental as well as developmental differences. These differences varied within the subcategories of control speech. For instance, specific removal commands such as "Go

599

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

away!", "Get out at once!" were used more frequently among working class children than among middle class children, but the number of commands of this type decreased with age. Control speech of working class children contained 40 among five-year olds and only 15

%among

% removal

commands

seven-year olds. The

results of the Polish research are somewhat different. Among both the four-year olds and the seven- and eight-year olds, the command category (in which removal commands are very numerous) scored high on production (IP: 47 - 70 25 - 30

%)

%)

and frequency (IF:

in all environments. The latter indices decreased

only in the twelve- and fourteen-year olds, remaining high however for the urban socio-cultural groups with lower status (C and D). This testifies to enduring severity in methods of control in Polish families, possibly as well to specific temperamental traits of Poles who tend to react rapidly in such situations. Be that as it may, adult control experience apparently differs for Polish and English children. Threats and Reparation Seeking Let us now consider the category Threats which appears rarely in both the English and Polish samples. Referring to Ginott's studies (1970), Turner points out that threats are a particularly dangerous mode of control since they undermine the child's sense of autonomy and encourage the child to break a rule again. Moreover, threats build up resentment and hate. However, it is necessary to differentiate threats of the type,

"If you do it again I'll show you" or " •.. I'll beat you,

...

call the policeman, •.• complain about you to your school", etc. from cognitive-rational appeals that convey a logical cause-effect account of the child's action. In the experimental situation "Breaking a window",

these were conditional sentences

analogous to the linguistic expression of many threats. According to Turner, such sentences fit into the category Reparation Seeking, for example, "If you break a pane again, you'll have to buy it". In English children this category significantly increases with age. Irrespective of social a few five-year olds

class membership, only

mentioned the requirement to make up for

damage, while one third of the leven-year olds recognized that

600

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

this should be done. Among the Polish children the frequency indices for this category were low in the younger groups and high in the fourteen-year olds; in the latter age group almost all children used Reparation Seeking (IP 70

% of

=

93 - 100

%), while 50 to

the twelve-year olds used it, but not very often.

As concerns the environmental differences, Threats scored lower than Commands, and were used more frequently by rural than by urban children. The rural twelve-year olds more often understood the necessity of reparation seeking than did their peers from other local environments. These data suggest a specific socia-cultural difference and also differences in rural and urban control. The system of rearing and socialization in rural families is authoritarian, although there is a tendency to relinquish such customs. On the other hand, certain patterns of public social control of children and adolescents are still vital in the entire rural community, where intensive interaction is based on family or neighborhood ties.

Damage ceases to

be anonymous and so requires reparation. Generally, the Reparation Seeking category distinguishes the Polish from the English children; it appears later among the Polish children, and first in the countryside. Rule Giving The other category in the framework of appellative control which differentiates the British from the Polish data is Rule Giving. In the English study this category occurs very rarely in five-year olds (3 year olds (13

%).

%)

but somewhat more frequently in seven-

Rules refer mainly to location (where child-

ren can play ball). Middle class children consider proper locations to be the park, the yard, the garden, etc., while working class children never refer to the rule that playing ball in the street is forbidden. Their rules are rather concerned with the manner of playing (play carefully in front of the house, not to throw the ball too high, etc.). For the Polish children the production indices are quite high in all age groups. While it is difficult on these grounds to point to any regularities concerning differentiation of local environmental groups, still

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

601

the urban socio-cultural groups A and B scored higher on IP than groups C and D, which would speak for differences in family rearing style. Adult control is perceived as persuasive mainly by children of parents with higher educational status. The frequency indices for Rule Giving are particularly high among the youngest children and gradually decrease with age, but remain still considerable, apart from a few exceptions among the older children. Qualitative environmental differences do not occur; on the other hand, developmental differences are noticeable in a stepwise

sequence: from rules referring to actions and their

effects to rules referring to location, to rules referring to obligation. It seems that Rule Giving is a manifestation of instructive communication and is of a persuasive and not punitive character (reminding somebody of a rule of behavior is not a punishment). Among the younger children this category may reflect experiences with constant repetition by adults of what should or should not be done. With progressive internalization of social norms, the child's sense of adult normative control over his behavior decreases. As concerns adolescents, adults remind them not about rules as such but rather about the fact that young people should know the principle and be aware of the obligation to follow the rules of social interaction. Affective State and Disapprobation Finally it is important to explain the modes of feeling expression in the situation of transgression. Two categories, Disapprobation and Affective State of Participants, are informative on this point. Emotional states

can refer to agents who

broke the window or to witnesses of the action. Both modes of control belong to the

appellative type. This is in accord with

Turner, who emphasizes the basic difference between children's utterances of the type, "The man was very cross" or "It makes me angry to see that", and the type, "The man told them off", the former focusing on the affective state of the person and the latter on the verbal action.

(Since we did not differentiate

role-play speech and non-role-play speech, responses of the type,

602

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

"he told them off". were included within the category Punishment containing both verbal and nonverbal types of punishment. The environmental differences for both age groups in Turner's research were significant. Working class children used more often the category of verbal punishment than did their peers from middle class families. The opposite phenomenon occurs in reference to ways of expressing feelings. which is in agreement with the finding of Cook (1970) based on maternal data. Middle class mothers often told the interviewer that the child's transgression evoked feelings. The mothers verbalized these feelings to let the interviewer know how deeply the results of the child's action had affected them. In general, the category Affective State of Participants was used very rarely in the younger groups of Polish children. The production and frequency indices of this category begin to increase only among the twelve- and

fourteen-year olds (ex-

cept for the lower-status Group D). In contrast. Disapprobation scored high on both indices

beginning

at age 7. without evi-

dent environmental differences. Disapprobation is. according to Turner. a category

contrasting with other control strategies

used in this situation. Disapprobation contains evaluative. attributive speech. whereas all other categories are action-oriented. One can distinguish between the cognitive and the affective component of disapprobation. The former deals with the characteristics of the child in terms of opposites (good--bad). the latter with the opposition "liked--disliked". Turner thinks that

although utterances of the type. "You're naughty boys".

exemplify positional and not personal control of behavior. since they are concerned with general and not particular individual personality traits. such utterances are closer than other control strategies to appeals to the personal traits of the child. It would seem from the analysis of the Polish material. which in this case is similar

to the English (Disapprobation

is frequent in all Polish groups and only in the middle class groups in Britain). that this category is a complex one. At the

603

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

beginning we tried to divide attributive utterances

into two

types, reprimand and disapprobation, taking into account the level of aggression and power of the evaluative speech. We gave attention also to the speech intonation and other control

stra~

egies accompanying the attribution. However, we gave up this division because many utterances were ambiguous and also because of varying criteria of evaluation in different environments. The same epithet can have a different meaning for the child, depending on the social community of which he is a member. However, we did find a displacement with age of disapprobating utterances from a small repertoire of attributive generalities (naughty, bad, etc.), most frequent in English in five- and seven-year olds, to more refined and diversified expressions of disapprobation of the child and his action, both as concerns intensity of evaluation and linguistic features. This is in agreement with our longitudinal data on the development of attributive relations (Przetacznikowa, 1977). We also entertain some doubts about the possibility of young children's differentiating evaluation of an action and evaluation of a person. This is in conformity with Piaget's data about the intentionality of moral judgments. Piaget thinks that young children assess the value of an action by its effects and not by the intention of the transgressor. From this point of view the broken window damage ~hich in Poland is sometimes difficult to repair) can seem to the child a greater transgression, although accidental. It is interesting that in fourte8nyear olds we also found strong epithets used for transgressors. This may be connected with the phenomenon of principled morality referred to before, which imposes a severe judgment on the child who violates a rule.

CONCLUSIONS The research presented in this chapter does not cover more than a small part of the broad and diversified set of problems connected with the regulatory context. We are aware of both positive aspects and shortcomings of the methods in use. The

M. Przetacznik-Gierowska

604

positive aspects concern the possibility of gaining insight into children's perception and comprehension of adult modes of control over their behavior in the type of experimental situation

that reflects everyday events within their knowledge and

experience. The insufficiency of the method lies in the possible ambiguities of interpretation of the child's utterances during the interview. This ambiguity is probably connected with the sources of children's experiential acquisitions, since responses can reflect not only the parental mode of control but also the educational style of other adults. So the main thesis that children's

control speech is based on the process of sociali-

zation in the family as related to social class (Bernsteiu) or to other social groups (as we assumed according to Polish social stratification), remains open to question. The findings of this research however show that the modes of control as perceived by children reared in different local environments are universal enough, although there are also some differences within particular categories of control.

On the

other hand, we found differences between the two main modes of control, imperative and appellative, in relation to the sociocultural factors that influence the child in the process of family socialization and rearing. This comes out in the results on urban children divided according to parental level of education and occupation. From parents with higher or secondary education, children tended to receive the appellative mode of control and from families in which parents have primary or vocational education, the modes of imperative control dominated in the perception of children. These latter groups seem to be anal-· ogous to the British working class. We must however emphasize that it is not economic status but cultural level of families that can be treated as the most important factor in the child's training and education. Further research should be concerned not only with issues of how children comprehend adults' modes of control over child behavior but also with the relation between this perception and the system of norms and values nascent in the younger children and already formed in the older ones. Confrontation of the

605

Comprehension of Adult Social Control through Language

child's perception of modes of control employed by adults with the modes actually used by adults is another important research goal. In this area we have already obtained some results showing the

confor~ity

of maternal control modes with their representa-

tion in pictured situations. This is also in agreement with the British data (Brandis, 1973). The problem however must be further elaborated. Our material should be more carefully analyzed from a linguistic point of view. Although the distinction of control speech categories allows us to draw conclusions on the realization of the semantic network connected with behavioral potential as controlled by adults, it may be that the role of environmental and developmental factors will turn out to be more distinctive through a careful analysis of the linguistic features of control speech. REFERENCES Bereiter, C., & Engelman. S. (1966). Teaching disadvantaged children in the preschool. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall. Bernstein, B, (1965). A socio-linguistic approach to social learning. In J. Gould (Ed.), Penguin survey of the social sciences. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin. Bernstein. B. (Ed.) (1971). Class, codes and control. Vol. 1: Theoretical studies towa~ sOCIOIogy-of language:-London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Bernstein, B. (Ed.) (1973). Class, codes and control. Vol. 2: Applied studies towards ~iorogy-of language. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Bernstein, B. (Ed.) (1975). Class, codes and control. Vol. Towards ~ theory of educatIOnal-rransmISsions. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

2:

Bernstein, B., & Cook, J. (1965). Social control coding manual. Unpublished ms., Sociological Research Unit, University of London. Brandis, W. (1973). A measure of the mother's orientation towards communication and control. In B. Bernstein (Ed.), Class, codes and control. Vol. g: Applied studies towards ~ sociulogy of language. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Bull, N. J. (1970). Moral judgment from childhood to adolescence. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Ginott, H. G.

(1970). Between parent and child. London: Pan Books.

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