ABSTRACT
Sibling relationships are a potentially significant setting for studying the development and use of gender-distinctive linguistic interaction patterns. Dunn suggested that early sibling relationships are an important context for the development of general social understanding. The chapter examines the use of gender-distinctive language in preschool sibling conversations, focusing on mitigation in directives and related forms used during pretend play. Past research on language use in peer pretend play has found a tendency for girls to show a preference for mitigated forms and boys to show a preference for unmitigated forms. In sibling relationships, power and solidarity are represented differently than they are in peer relationships. In peer relationships, the partners generally have fairly equal amounts of power, and both solidarity and the desire to increase and maintain it are assumed to be high. In sibling relationships, however, power is unevenly distributed, and issues of solidarity are murkier.
