Through this kind of adult-child interaction, children come to understand two
critical aspects of how language functions as a communicative system: Firstly,
they come to see themselves as what Halliday (1993) characterises as tellers and
knowers; having information and being conscious of their potential to create a
state of knowing in another by relating that information to them. Secondly,
when children engage in recounts and anecdotes which do not depend on shared
experience with the listener, the language they use necessarily moves towards a
more context independent style. They are recreating the experience for the listener
and relying on language to communicate the meaning. In this sense, both the
meaning and the language are decontextualized; not tied to the immediate context
and not reliant on the visible or concrete aspects of experience.