Page No.75-82
Anjali
Allahabad Degree College, Allahabad, U.P
Language is a tool of socialisation; and through socialisation, a child learns to use
language. In an extended family system, which is most prevalent in India, a child
has a larger universe in terms of the parental as well as the grandparental speech
model. The present study examines the relative contribution of socialisation agents,
that is, the mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and siblings, to the linguistic
environment of the family and the acquisition of linguistic skills in children. Eightyfour boys and girls (M = 32 months) were taken from joint and extended families. A
semi-structured interview schedule was used to measure the linguistic environment
of the family. A battery of linguistic measures was used to assess the language
development of the children. A Multiple Regression Analysis was performed on scores
of all five social agents obtained on Linguistic Environment Inventory and three
measures of linguistic skill. The findings show that grandparents, particularly the
grandmother, play a strong role in Indian joint families.