Young children's language socialization to kinship vocatives and some of their indexicalities in an Indo-Fijian community

Abstract

This article explores young children's language socialization to kinship vocatives and some of their indexicalities in “Dovubaravi,” a rural Indo-Fijian community in Fiji. The investigation engaged 11 young Dovubaravi children and their extended families in qualitative ethnographic data generation across 2 years. Findings (i) demonstrate participation in culturally approved discourse in Dovubaravi requires apposite deployment of kinship vocatives indexing elder respect, lines of kinship, familial roles, asymmetrically reciprocal obligations between family members, consanguinity taboos, and ethno-cultural identities, and (ii) suggest how multiparty talk supports Dovubaravi children's language socialization to kinship vocatives and their indexicalities, and to a culturally authorized curiosity.