Social Networks of Mother and Child: An Examination of Their Function in Developing Speech

This chapter is concerned with the functional relationship, in early childhood, between the child’s social network and the child’s speech. The study we describe here must in one sense be considered presumptuous, because few systematic data have so far been collected on the characteristics of children’s networks (Ellis, Rogoff, & Cromer, 1981; Garbarino, Burston, Raber, Russell, & Crouter, 1978; Tietjen, 1982) and preschoolers’ networks (Lewis, Feiring, & Kotsonis, 1984; Waldrop & Halverson, 1975), and even less information on infants’ networks. We thus have very meager information upon which to base a study of the impact of 2-year-olds’ social networks on their speech. Nevertheless, the significance of the concept of social network for understanding children’s behavior and development will ultimately rest upon the relationships that can be demonstrated between it and important behaviors of children.