ABSTRACT
We can distinguish between uses of language which can be called ‘context bound’ and uses of language which are less context bound. Consider, for example, the two following stories which Peter Hawkins,…constructed as a result of his analysis of the speech of middle-class and working-class fiveyear-old children. The children were given a series of four pictures which told a story and they were invited to tell the story. The first picture showed some boys playing football; in the second the ball goes through the window of a house; the third shows a woman looking out of the window and a man making an ominous gesture; and in the fourth the children are moving away.
