An interdisciplinary study of sub-discussions in children-adult argumentation
| Directeur de la thèse | Antonio Iannaccone |
| Résumé |
Studies on argumentative activities involving children are
relatively recent, since interest in children's argumentation has
been generally underestimated. In a recent project (ArgImp), some
researchers acknowledged the emergence of sub-issues in
children-adult argumentation. In the analysis of some argumentative
discussions between children and their parents, it emerged that the
discussants' divergent implicit premises led to a sub-discussion: a misalignment within an already existing argumentative situation provoked the emergence of a new issue (sub-issue). This disclosure shall be worthy of further investigation, since it could enrich our knowledge about children’s way of reasoning and their active engagement in argumentation. Thus, the aim of the doctoral dissertation will be to investigate sub-discussions in children-adult argumentative interactions. After realizing that children call into question adults’ argumentative starting points, this thesis aims to understand on what type of premises children open sub-issues, in what type of situations, in what type of argumentative loci, and why they do it. To try to answer these questions, both linguistic and psychological approaches to argumentation will be taken into account. Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, the researcher will start the investigation by conducting an argumentative analysis of already existing corpora containing children-adult argumentations. At a later moment, if it proves necessary, the researcher will proceed to integrate the data by creating a corpus ad hoc with argumentative discussions between preschooler children and adults while committed in joint activities (like playing, cooking, etc.). |
| Mots-clés |
sub-discussion; argumentation; children's argumentation |
| Type de projet | Recherche de thèse |
| Domaine de recherche | argumentation |
| Etat | En cours |
| Début de projet | 1-10-2019 |
| Fin du projet | 30-9-2023 |
| Contact | Elisa Angiolini |