ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that by middle childhood categorical distinctions between 'child language' and 'the adult language system' begin to break down, and boundaries become more blurred. Not only are children potentially able to deploy linguistic resources from a much wider range than is possible for pre-linguistic infants, but adults too may have reasons for adopting the speech styles more centrally associated with childhood. This was illustrated by some examples from fiction, and the idea was extended by an analysis of suggestions made by 40 adult speakers of English of utterances whose use by adults might attract comment because of their association with the way children speak. The child-directed speech (CDS), which is usually referred to in the context of carers addressing children at the earliest stages of language acquisition, was found from the elicitation study to be a resource capable of deployment with any speaker whom one wishes to patronize, and some illustrative examples from narrative fiction were cited.
