This book is a ten-chapter ethnolinguistic study of the language and social behavior of a
group of 3-year-old third-generation British children schooled in the northeast of England. Their
families are settled migrants who speak languages other than English at home and in their
community. The study uses audiotaped recordings of the children's language, together with
thick contextual description, to provide insights into ways in which young children learn to be
communicatively competent in their new environment.