ROLE VOICING, GENDER, AND AGE IN PRESCHOOL PLAY DISCOURSE

This study analyzed play discourse participation frameworks in groups of different gender compositions and different age compositions, focus ing on the different ways that children ''voice'' a pretend play role. A single, 24-child preschool classroom containing 3-, 4-, and 5-year- olds was the object of an extended observational study; 29 hours of na turalistic discourse were transcribed, coded, and statistically analyz ed. There were significant differences in the role voicing used by old er and younger play groups. There were also significant differences in the role voicing used by groups of different gender compositions. Res ults are discussed with respect to the literature on gender and childr en's language development.