Riddling and Enculturation: A Glance at the Cerebral Child
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1976
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Working Papers in Sociolinguistics
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Abstract
This paper attempts to illustrate with concrete data that riddles serve as a didactic device to sharpen the wits of young children. The riddle is described as a verbal routine which adapts the interrogative system of a speech community to purposes of play. Piddles concerning motion or locomotion of animal, machines and toys were collected in a single riddling session, from three Chicano children aged 5-7. The output of these neophyte riddles is discussed in the context of the acquisition and refinement of cognitive categories, and a folk taxonomy focused on the semantic domain of locomotion is suggested. Riddling is viewed as a didactic mechanism conducive to experimentation with received notions of order, and elaboration of novel cognitive orders. In riddlirg, at various stages, children learn to formulate culturally acceptable classifications; to articulate classifications at variance with cultural conventions; and finally to assess language and classification as arbitrary instruments reflecting only partially the continuous texture of experience.
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McDowell, John H. "Riddling and Enculturation: A Glance at the Cerebral Child," (1976) Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, no. 36, 1-16.
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Working Paper