how birth order may effect personality

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/birth_order/

Language Development Linked To Relationship With Older Siblings In Large Families

http://www.medicaldaily.com/language-development-linked-relationship-older-siblings-large-families-268008

When, how and why do gender differences in language begin?

http://linguistics-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/when-how-and-why-do-gender-differences.html

 children tend to socialize in single sex groups. Gender segregation in friendship groups means that as children grow older their language use becomes increasingly divergent.

Txting is for people who can’t spell, write? Wrong - guardian article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/07/mind-your-language-textisms

Confessions of a reformed grammar nazi - guardian article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/14/mind-your-language-grammar-nazi?CMP=twt_gu

Influences on Sibling Relationships

http://www.education.com/reference/article/influences-sibling-relationships/

 Family constellation refers to the number and sex of the adults and children including the birth order, type of relationship (biological, adopted, stepparent or sibling), age, and spacing of the children. Although all relationships in the family are important, the parent-child relationships have the greatest impact on sibling relationships.

Birth Order

The relationship between birth order and an individual's personality has been debated since Alfred Adler (1928) described specific characteristics of children according to their birth order. He also coined the phrase "sibling rivalry."

Firstborn children tend to have distinct personality traits. Many studies depict these children as more adultlike, achievement-oriented, verbal, conservative, controlling of subordinates, and displaying a higher self-concept, but more anxious and less popular with peers than children born later (Lahey, Hammer, Crumrine, and Forehand, 1980; Zajonc, 1983).

Middle Children

Middle children are more sociable and harder to classify than the firstborns. They are sometimes called the "overlooked child." It is more difficult to be the middle child when all siblings are of the same gender.

In contrast to the first-born the middle child may be more friendly, cheerful, placid, and less studious with lower self-esteem. According to Adler (1928), the middle child is ambitious, rebellious, envious, and better adjusted than either the first born or the youngest child.

Youngest Child

When growing up, the youngest child is smaller, weaker, less knowledgeable, and less competent compared to older siblings, and often turns to attention-seeking. At a very early age, the youngest are more outgoing, exploring toys, making responses to people, and initiating more play with strangers.

Effects of older siblings on the language young children hear and produce.

Mothers told stories to their children, inserting 30 questions about each story under two conditions. In one situation, mothers were alone with their younger child, and in the other condition, an older sibling was also present. During the question-answer interactions, older siblings responded to 60%-65% of all mothers' questions before younger children had a chance to respond and provided direct answers to the questions in 57%-65% of those instances. Mothers responded by producing fewer rephrased questions, fewer questions providing hints and answers, fewer questions functioning as repetitions and expansions, and more directly repeated questions when the older sibling was present. The effect of older siblings' first responses also reduced by half the number of younger children's utterances. The younger children produced fewer noncontent and content answers and more imitated answers in the presence of the older sibling. It is concluded that the presence of older siblings may influence the language young children hear and produce.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3974217

Do second and third-born children really talk late? The effect of birth order on language development

http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Do-second-and-third-born-children-really-talk-late.aspx

• First-born children reach the 50-word milestone earlier than later-born children. But later-born children catch up quickly and there are no lasting differences in vocabulary between the two siblings.

• The overall language development of second-born children was the same as their first-born siblings, but second born children were more advanced in their use of pronouns (eg. my, mine, you, your)

• While first-born children were more advanced in vocabulary and grammar, later-born children were more advanced in their conversational skills

 For example, first-born children may benefit from more one-to-one attention from their parents. However, later-born children may benefit from a greater variety of conversations, such as overheard conversations between caregivers and other siblings.

Hyperbole

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/04/hyperbole-love-hate-language-linguistics

Guardian article on the overuse of hyperboles in our language. The example they give is of a review calling a pizza 'earth-shatteringly good' but also individual words that have lost their punch like iconic, unique and freezing.

Claudia Claridge, a linguist that studies hyperboles said that it "highlights speaker attitudes and emotions with the intention of having these shared by the hearer" through what she has called "emotive persuasion"

http://zenpencils.com/comic/95-louis-c-k-we-dont-think-about-how-we-talk/

A ZenPencils comic on the same issue, using a quote from Louis C. K.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/internet-hyperbole-charlie-brooker

Charlie Brooker's take on the subject, mostly just mocking people that use hyperboles and/or smartphones in what has become a fairly generic 'kids these days' rant.