Linguistic Features of Children’s Litereture and Its Perception by Young Readers

The paper discusses the key features of children’s literature that distinguish it from literature for adults. The author focuses on its targeting, accessibility of language, moral orientation and educational potential. The conservative nature of children’s literature associated with the focus on traditional moral values is emphasized. The paper analyzes vital themes and motifs such as the struggle between good and evil, character development, the importance of family ties, friendship and justice. Particular attention is paid to the role of illustration, emotionality of the text, fantasy and dynamism of the plot in the perception of works by children. The paper describes the traditions and trends in the development of children’s literature in different historical periods in Russia and abroad. The purpose of this study is to analyze the specifics of children’s literature as an independent direction of artistic creativity, to identify its key functions, thematic features and value guidelines, and to determine its role in the moral, emotional and social development of the child. The methodological basis of the study is an interdisciplinary approach, including elements of literary criticism, pedagogy, cultural studies and psycholinguistics. The psycholinguistic approach, which is focused on age and cognitive features of children’s perception of the text, allows us to analyze the correspondence of language, structure and style with the level of speech and emotional development of child, it is also contributes to the formation of emotional intelligence. The work studies theoretical approaches to defining children’s literature and its specifics, identifies genre and thematic features of works intended for children, analyses educational and moral functions of children’s literature, determines the characteristic features of the style and composition of children’s works, summarizes the traditions and trends in the development of children’s literature in different historical periods.