Description:
<jats:p> This article reports on two studies investigating the effect of contextual variables on young children’s language use in conversation. In Study 1, 20 children between age 1;5 and 2;2 were recorded in conversation with their mothers in three settings: mealtime, toy play, and book reading. In Study 2, 16 children between age 1;9 and 3;0 were recorded in dyadic toy play interaction with three different conversational partners: a 5-year-old older sibling, an 8-year-old older sibling, and their mother. Both studies found effects of the contextual variable on children’s vocabulary use and discourse cohesion.The children used a richer vocabulary and produced more topic-continuing contributions in book reading than in other contexts, and they used a richer vocabulary and produced more responses to questions in conversation with their mothers than in conversation with their older siblings. Despite mean effects of context, there was cross-context stability in the individual differences among children. </jats:p>