ABSTRACT
Key for studies in the language socialization paradigm is careful attention to language forms and the examination of how forms are tied to contextually bound meanings and subjectivities. As Kulick and Schieffelin write: “A powerful contribution that the language socialization paradigm makes to an understanding of the production of subjects is its close attention to the linguistic forms that are used to socialize children and other novices into expected roles and behaviors” (2004, p. 360). This attention helps us to understand the what and the how of socialization into particular subjectivities and, when “problematic cases” are involved, allows for an analysis of why social change occurs. An important added dimension, recently highlighted by Kulick and Schieffelin (2004), is the focus on desire as a cognitive construct that explains the motivation for individuals’ action to either socialize or not into the sets of practices that constitute normative behavior for particular individuals in particular communities.
