Conversational styles in Estonian child-adult conversations

Are the languages used anything to do with more general conversational

styles?

A silent Finn, a silent Finno-Ugric, or a silent Nordic?

Tulviste et al. 2003

• Considerabel differences have been found in the amount of speech and conversational style between cultures that otherwise seem to share the same Western core values.

Talkativeness

• Nordic people have generally been noted to be less talkative and more comfortable with silence than other Western people. Several articles nave been devoted to “Silent Finns” (Lehotnen claims that to be silent is rewarding and positive in Finnish society)

• The silence is accepted in other Nordic cultures as well: Swedes stick to the principle that one should not talk unless one has something important to say.

Mother-child interaction

• Tulviste and her collegues wanted to know how talkative are Estonian, Swedish, Finnish mothers and teenagers at their homes as measured by the number of utterances per minute.

• They measured also monologuing and mother’s conversational dominance over the target child.

Method

• Tulviste and colleagues videotaped 92 families during mealtime, puzzle solving and book reading. All families were middle class or upper middle-class.

• The duration of the mealtime was different – the mean mealtime duration was 15.12 in Estonian families, while in Finnish families it was 19.39 and in Swedish families 20.52 min.

Mealtime conversations in different cultures

• There are big differences between cultures in mealtime conversations:– Swedish mothers were most talkative, Estonian mothers were

significantly less talkative than Finns!

– The same holds for Estonian teenagers. They are less talkative than Finns and Finns are less talkative that Swedes.

– Comparing the children in the same family, it appeared that firstborn children are more talkative that other siblings, and their mothers don’t dominate conversationally over them as much as over the later born children.

Talkativeness and different cultures

• Finns and Estonians hold a distinctive position among their Nordic neighbors – they speak significantly less.

• The attitude towards the silence is different from other Western cultures – the communication is meant to be effective and brief, speaking during meals is not considered good behaviour. Estonian mothers praise their children for table manners (not for eating well as American mothers did) and even for not speaking at mealtime.

Conversational styles

• There are few available studies on the communication styles of Estonians. The study comparing speech in TV broadcasts of Estonians and Finns (Pajupuu 1995), says that Estonian’s speech was more rapid, their turn switching was more frequent and interruptions more accepted.

• Would it be relevant in other communication situations as well?

Conversational styles II

• Many studies have reported a distinction between two maternal conversational styles: conversation-eliciting and directive style.

• Why is it important?– On the one hand: Children whose mothers talk

more have better linguistic abilities (more items in their vocabulary)

– But: Dominantly directive style may influence children’s social and cognitive development (lower IQ etc)

Estonian mothers speak less with their children, but how do they speak withe their children?

• The ways of speaking may depend on particular interaction context. For example, it can be different at meals and in puzzle solving and in book reading.

• Estonian mothers are significantly less talkative at meals than during puzzle solving and book reading.

• During puzzle solving and book reading , mothers have been found more concerned with eliciting talk.

• Mothers used a lot of attentional directives during the puzzle solving and book reading. But joint attention has been considered to have a positive effect on language development.

Some facts about Estonian mothers’ communicative styles

• Estonian mothers of toddlers were found to be more interested in controlling the children’s behaviour than mothers from Sweden.

• There is no connection between mother’s education and conversational styles in Estonian.

• And there is no connection found between specific language and communication style (British mothers and American mothers).

Controlling conversational style

• CHI: emme, vaata kui ilus kiisu ‘mommy, look what a beautiful kitty’

• MOT: pane ära palun! ‘put it away, please!’

• Conversational-eliciting style:• CHI: Laura käib karkudega ‘Laura walks with crutches’• MOT: Laura?• MOT: oota, kes see Laura on, kas ma tean teda? ‘wait,

who the Laura is, do I know her?’

• Behavioural directives: giving commands, or permission, requesting, or encouraging desirable action:MOT: söö ilusti! ‘eat nicely!’CHI: see on vesi ‘it is water’MOT: ära pane näppu sinna sisse! ‘don’t put your finger inside

it!’• Attentional directives: utterances used to attract, direct,

or redirect attention:MOT: vaata! ‘look’CHI: kutsu ‘doggy’

• Conversational-eliciting utterances: attempt to elicit a verbal responce:MOT: kes need teised on? ‘who are the others?’CHI: kiisu kiisu kutsu ‘kitty kitty doggy’

Controlling behaviour

• Tulviste and Kantz have found that Estonian mothers living in Estonia controlled more frequently the target children’s behaviour than those Estonian mothers who lived in Sweden. Hence – there is no connection between specific language and communication style.

• Estonian mothers use regulative sentences more frequently than mothers from USA, and they regulate mostly their children’s physical activities and attention.

Controlling behaviour and values

• Estonian mothers living in Estonia have quite different values from Estonian mothers living in Sweden. Estonian mothers living in Sweden value more creativity, freedom and independence, that is why these mothers are not so directive.

• But it has been found that Estonian values have changed in the past decade and there has been a shift in socialization patterns also. It has been found the Estonian mothers were less directive in 2003 than they were in 1992.

Conversational styles talking with boys and girls

• Conversational styles can be different wrt boys and girls: mothers have been found more talkative with girls than with boys, and they use more commands interacting with their sons (Leaper et al. 1998).

• But Tulviste has found that there are no significant gender differences in the ways in which mothers speak with their daughters and sons.– What kind of generalizations could we make from these

results about Estonian socio-cultural situation?

What kind of generalizations could we make on the basis of these results about the Estonian socio-cultural situation?

• It has been stated that the USA is an individualistically oriented country, Sweden is moderately individualistically oriented country, and Estonia is collectivistically oriented country.

• Is it true on the basis of data presented?– Communication styles– Communicating with boys and girls– Communicating in different situations