Alison Sealy, Childly language: Children, language and the social world. London: Longman, Pearson Education, 2000. Pp. 229.

Abstract

This book aims to explore discursive representations of childhood and how they contribute to create the social categories of ‘children’ and ‘childhood’. It uses a combination of approaches and methods that range from textual analysis, to elicitation of utterances, to data from natural interactions. Although the title suggests that the study covers general phenomena, it is based exclusively on British English. Some of the findings may resonate in the wider cultural area of the First World, and there may be parallels with more global notions of ‘children’; however, the subtitle should have made clear that the study is restricted to British English.