ABSTRACT
Sometimes, children’s texts are neat and clearly ordered (e.g. Figure 1.1, Figure 2.3, and Figure 3.1a). Sometimes, they are apparently disorganized, even ‘a mess’. What if texts that might at fi rst sight appear to be a mass of confusion are looked at again? Repetition is a converse of the apparent chaos of diverse components. In school, children are often exhorted to use variety in their descriptive language and in their sentence beginnings, structures and connectives. Why do they sometimes repeat graphic items? Does similarity, even identicalness, necessarily indicate lack of imagination or limited ability? On occasion, children draw and write economically, omitting detail. Is this laziness? What if ‘jumble’, shorthand and repetition are examined as semiotic work?
