Le parolacce nella classe plurilingue. Forme, azioni verbali e asimmetrie

Methodologically grounded on Conversation Analysis, this study deals with an under-researched topic: the use of taboo words by school children. Data are taken from two audio and visual corpora of classroom interactions, both between Italian L2 learners and more heterogeneous groups of pupils. Through a sequential and multimodal analysis of three extracts, corresponding to different participation frameworks (children-teacher interactions and peer interactions involving the teacher or not), we show how the use of taboo words is part and parcel of language socialization processes at school. Children reveal their creativity in contesting or ratifying and re-producing the institutional linguistic normativity, as well as in constructing asymmetries among them on the epistemic and moral level. Implications for further studies and L1 and L2 teaching are considered.