The dissertation project is a study of how childrens' increasingly skillful use of certain language forms ("stance forms") help them to more effectively perform culturally salient social identities in discourse. Although scholars have long claimed that language use helps to position speakers in terms of socially recognizable identities,…

In an age of scientific method much of any individual's thinking is quantitative. He lives in a world in which every situation involves concepts of quantity, amount, size, or number. He employs number language, that is, number names and signs to express his quantitative ideas. These various number names and signs constitute the medium for his…