Languages have multiple ways of saying things. In some cases, choosing between alternative forms (e.g., dinner vs. supper; cool vs. awesome) depends on aspects of our identity: Among adults, males and females often have difference preferences, and so do younger and older speakers, or speakers of different dialects. But how early on do children learn that word choice/pronunciation may depend on such cues?
Experiments with collaborators Elizabeth Wonnacott, Kenny Smith, and Helen Brown address this question by teaching 5-year-olds an artificial language where word choice depends on whether the speaker is male or female.