Child and conversational interaction: an orchestral action

Abstract

The theme of this article’s investigation is the search for the child’s discourse adjustment with regard to the other speaker, during the experience of language acquisition. The main idea is that, when participating in a conversation, the speakers build their discourse expressions centered in a theme, which allows the analogy with an ‘orchestra’, a common work being built by all participants of the interaction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how the child adapts her speech in relation to the other speaker to enter the orchestra ruled by the conversation. The orientation of the word in function of the other and appreciative orientation, arising from the Dialogical Theory of Discourse, are fundamental concepts in this investigation. Interactional events lived by a child during her two years and three months up to two years and six months old are analyzed, where a much older child and an adult are present. The analysis allows to state that the child takes on particular roles in the interactions lived with the other speakers, who point to a dislocation of social situations already lived by them in other enunciations to the specifications of here-now of the most immediate situation, which always happens regarding the social situation lived and through the appreciative orientation of the other’s word.