In/directness in Polish children's requests at the dinner table

This paper provides some new insights into the concept of in/directness by analysing Polish children's requests. Based on video-recordings of family interactions, it examines how Polish children request and obtain objects during mealtimes, and considers a number of factors related to their choice of request forms. The paper highlights the central role want statements play in child–adult interactions, the different uses of performative requests in Polish homes, and the impact of recurrent routines on the use of the so called off-record strategies, making them similar to direct requests.The study also makes a contribution to research on children's socialisation. Unlike many previous studies which seem to equate child agency with resistance, it shows how children who are positioned by their parents as equals at the dinner table adopt a more formal language style by using conventionally indirect requests.