ABSTRACT
The ambiguity of the phrase ‘talking of children and youth’ is deliberate. For children and young people ‘talk’ is a primary medium of social exchange through which, as Rapport notes, the ‘contours of the social world are continuously firmed up’ and declared as common, in the same moment when, as individuals, children and young people announce loudly their individuality and uniqueness. ‘Talking’ involves first knowing how and when to use language and young children soon recognize that ‘rules of appropriateness beyond grammar govern speech. The ‘talk’ of children and young people draws on a variety of linguistic resources which style the form and content of the language they use among themselves. Knowledge of linguistic resources and the acquisition of performance skills thus registers children and young people’s relative positions within the generational cultures of childhood and youth.
