Aggravated correction and disagreement in children's conversations

This paper investigates features of “aggravated” correction and disagreement in the naturally occurring conversations of urban black children, ages 4–14. Intonation contours, turn shapes, and the patterning of sequences demonstrate an orientation toward displaying rather than mitigating expressions of opposition with previous utterances. It is argued that such phenomena are constructed through systematic selections of alternatives to procedures for constructing agreement and for accomplishing repair in adult conversation.