ABSTRACT
This chapter explores collaborative pretend play as a particular kind of conversational activity. The persistent neglect of children’s pretend play in anthropology can only partially be attributed to doubts about how such research on verbal fantasy play intercalates with other levels of data so as to constitute a theory-building part of the discipline. It also reflects problems about how one actually goes about investigating naturally occurring socio-dramatic episodes. Once the children is exposed to the play recordings their sensitivity to interest and research saliencies rendered natural play discourse in such contexts difficult to obtain. The extent to which players operate a genre switch either within or across play episodes appears to vary unpredictably. Prompts are non-fantasy frame moves which instruct players as to ‘how to act and what to say while temporarily abandoning the play identity’.
