Blocks and Matchboxes: Negotiation of a Shared Reality Between Two Siblings

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Michelle Branigan

Abstract

Brian Sutton-Smith has pointed out that if folklorists were to study children's activities and performance then "our ideas of structure and function might. . . change considerably" and we might become less "adult-centric" (68). Goodwin's extended discourse analysis of Philadelphia children, concluding that children tend not to mitigate disputes in the same ways as adults ("Aggravated Correction"), ratifies the idea that researchers, when examining interaction be-tween children, would do well to free themselves of assumptions about communication based on study of adults. Keeping this in mind, this paper examines the dialogue between an eight-year-old boy, Danny, and his six-year-old sister, Crystal, in order to under-stand the dynamics creating and sustaining a brief episode of their play. They work to play, continually meeting in their engagement with each other at the juncture of will and concession.

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