Growing interest among child-language researchers in how routines shape children's language acquisition has led to studies of individual routines, focused primarily on what aspects of communicative competence they teach and how they teach them. Less attention has been paid to how individual routines in speakers' repertoires are interrelated. Yet, as Boggs (1985) points out, in order to interpret the meaning of a routine used in a particular instance, it is important to know both the content as understood by the speakers and why one routine rather than some other was selected. The latter concern is embodied in Hymes's (1974) concept of “speech economy,” which has to do with the distribution of particular codes and modes of speech in the various relationships found within a speech community (Boggs 1985). The notion of speech economy directs the researcher's attention to several levels of analysis, including the degree to which routines are shared across a speech community, a routine's form and usage across situations and participants, what each routine is “for,” contextual or other features (such as participation structure) that elicit a particular routine, and the life histories of routines.

Reflecting on these issues has been very useful in helping us to organize an analysis of routines engaged in by Kwara'ae caregivers and children. This paper focuses on two interrelated routines, calling out and repeating, which are key routines in Kwara'ae children's language socialization.