Six Samoan children ranging in age from 2 to 16 were the subjects of a study to document the spontaneous production of the deictic verbs "sau" ("to come") and "aumai" ("to bring/give"). "Aumai" appears to be used before "sau" and is generally used more frequently than "sau." Imperatives with "aumai" tend to be directed to higher status persons or to peers. These results reflect the fact that the young child is supported and encouraged to make demands for objects, and also instructed to share objects with younger siblings. The order of acquisition and frequency further reflects the fact that within the household, higher status persons generally issue directives of this type to lower status persons. The effectiveness of these sociocultural constraints is evident in the fact that a semantic feature analysis predicts the reverse order of acquisition and frequency. (JB)