ABSTRACT
One common type of language play is that in which children repeat all or part of a preceding model utterance. A second type of language play involves modifications. There are a number of types of modifications that occur in language play. Children play with all aspects of the language system—phonological, pragmatic, syntactic, and semantic. Consistent developmental patterns are more difficult to ascertain for the remaining types of language play. The social situation places some obvious limits on language play. C. Garvey suggested that social language play is not produced until relatively late in development. The social language play she observed increased with age, and involved spontaneous rhyming and word play, play with fantasy and nonsense, and play with speech acts and discourse conventions. Social language play appears to be more likely to be affected by the presence of a strange peer than is social-context language play, at least for young children.
