Language attitudes and child-directed speech in Bangladeshi Bangla
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/TheLinguisticProceedings/2025/17/02/013/000699Keywords:
Bangla, Bangladesh, child directed speech, language attitudesAbstract
This study examines morphological variation in child-directed speech (CDS) of native Bangla-speaking families from Bangladesh by analysing the style-shift between standard and non-standard Bangla with a focus on present-tense verb forms: e.g., korchi do.1sg.pres (standard) vs kortesi do.1sg.pres (non-standard). Style shifting has been found to occur variably in CDS depending on the age and gender of the addressee as well as language attitudes of the addresser. Proceeding from an initial analysis of the variable use of standard and non-standard verbforms, we focus on quantitatively analysing language attitudes of potential relevance for patterns of style shift. The aim of this is to gain an understanding of the motivation behind interlocuters’ style shifting choices in CDS.References
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