The Emergence of Issues in Everyday Discussions Between Adults and Children

This article studies how discussion issues emerge and argumentative discussions are initiated. Studying how discussions are initiated enables us to understand who is a legitimate instigator of a discussion issue and to what extent the freedom rule of argumentation is granted in a given context. This is of particular importance in asymmetrical contexts, such as discussions between adults and children. In this article, the authors consider the case of adult-child discussions taking place in an informal family setting and propose a typology of how issues emerge and discussions are initiated. This analysis shows that, in informal settings, children are able to introduce new issues for argumentation. It demonstrates that in collaborative argumentation, issues have precedence over standpoints. Finally, it indicates that the possibility of introducing new issues represents the ultimate application of the freedom rule of a critical discussion.