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Learning How to Insist and Clarify in the Second Year: Reformulation of Requests in Different Contexts

The aim of the present study was to demonstrate that in the beginning of the second year of life, children use pre-linguistic behaviours stereotypically and progressively acquire the capacity to devise strategies to adapt to the adult's response. Children aged 14 and 18 months were observed with their mothers in three conditions involving different maternal responses to the child's request: (1) refusing to satisfy the request; (2) willingness to satisfy it, with misunderstanding, and asking for clarification; and (3) willingness to satisfy it, with misunderstanding, and responding with the wrong object. The results showed that the behaviour of 14-month-olds was less varied across situations than the behaviour of 18-month-olds, and that 18-month-olds rely more on vocal productions (linguistic and nonlinguistic) and modifications of those vocal productions when clarification is required. This predominance of vocalisations over gestures was particularly noticeable in the situation where the mother complied but did not choose the object required by the child. The findings are discussed from the point of view of two components of request: regulation of the addressee's behaviour; and referencing of the target object. An explanation of the processes involved is proposed in terms of the specific functions of vocalisations at the end of the pre-linguistic stage, and of the role of interactive "formats" as contexts for learning communication strategies.