Family politics in children's play directives

The present study focuses on children's role play directives as displays of gender stereotypes and power hierarchies in family life. Studies on polite ness have primarily focused on directives at the mitigation end of a polite ness continuum. The present study has particularly addressed the aggravatio n end of the continuum and, as predicted, family role play was rich in aggr avations. A specific type of escalation, called threat-tell sequences, show ed how the children successively moved from a metapragmatic level to a prag matic level, and at times ultimately to a level of embodied action. Focusin g in depth on children's embodied role play directives in face-to-face inte raction, this study shows how politeness models need to be expanded in orde r to account for aggravated moves and paradoxical communication.