Politeness In Children's Language: Peer Group Influence and Pragmatic Competence

This study is concerned with a politeness in children's language when they play. The results of this empirical study of Langsa children's language in playing, focusing on their use of politeness phenomena. The data were obtained from students of kindergarten in Langsa. The children used as participants in this study were five boys and five girls. The children came from middle-class families and were aged between 5 and 8 years old. And the results from the present study, most of which has found that girls appear to be more polite than boys when they play. This is not confirmed in the present study which found no significant differences in boys' and girls' use of mitigation. The girls as well as the boys often used an assertive, unmitigated style in their play. This result is discussed in relation to different patterns of socialization in Langsa, emphasizing the importance of socio-cultural context and peer group influence on children's language, as well as children's sensitivity of contextual norms in their pragmatic competence.