Kidspeak
A Dictionary of Australian Children's Words, Expressions and Games
Kidspeak is the first book to offer a rich sampling of the linguistic range, variety and complexity of Australian children's colloquial vernacular speech.
Opinion
'The text is well organised. . . it is a useful academic reference and an essential addition for any library collection. As well, it provides fascinating reading and browsing for anyone with an interest in children and the world as they see it.' (Reading Time, Vol 46, No 1, March 2002)
'I found this book a delight to dip into and will no doubt refer to it when I am mystified by the language spoken by my children and their associates.' (Colin Fong, Mulga Wire, December 2001)
About this Title
By the time they are five or six years old, children have learnt to explain, complain, admire, speculate, imagine, enquire, agree, argue and shock in their mother tongue. They can burble and coo to a baby, speak 'correctly' to their elders, and converse in the slang of their peers. Some may be fluent in more than one 'adult' language; all but the most isolated are becoming expert in the ways their friends speak.
Children's creative use of language is more than the practice of speech; it involves the imaginative exploration of ideas and images, and the marking of peer and hierarchical relationships. This book offers a rich, comprehensive sampling of the linguistic range and complexity of Australian children's colloquial words and expressions from early childhood through teenage years. It illuminates the significant but hidden subcultures of childhood, highlighting a vernacular that is always inventive, sometimes crude, and often witty and amusing.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Iona Opie
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
How Kidspeak Works
Introduction
The Dictionary
Select Bibliography
About the Author
June Factor is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and the University of London and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne. She is a well-known and highly-respected folklorist, social historian and writer, with a special interest in children's folklore and language. She is the author of the much loved children's books Far Out, Brussel Sprout!, All Right, Vegemite!, Unreal, Banana Peel!, Real Keen, Baked Bean! and Roll Over, Pavlova!. Her social history, Captain Cook Chased a Chook: Children's Folklore in Australia, was awarded the United States Opie Prize.
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