verbal duelling

In SOCIOLINGUISTICS, a term which refers to the competitive use of LANGUAGE, within a game-like structure, with rules that are known and used by the participants. It is a genre of VERBAL PLAY – a ritual dialogue in which each speaker attempts to outdo an opponent by producing an utterance of increased verbal ingenuity. It has been noted, for example, in the ritual exchanges between warriors in classical epic texts as well as in the trading of insults between present-day street gangs.