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This paper illuminates how Dell Hymes’ work helped lay the foundation for the language socialization (LS) paradigm. We trace the ways in which some critical concepts of Hymes have informed LS research, as well as map out scholars’ elaboration of those key ideas. We begin by looking at the ways in which LS scholars embraced and expanded on Hymes’ focus on context, by locating the acquisition of language within cultural settings. Therein the notion of indexicality plays a pivotal role. Next, we analyze how LS scholars have championed Hymes’ notion of communicative competence, in which linguistic ability is qualified by appropriateness norms related to socio-cultural roles and expectations. The next section explores the notion of agency within the context of cultural reproduction. Finally, we investigate how LS scholars have taken up Hymes’ interest in the issue of social inequality, as it arises through differential access to linguistic capital. While illustrating how language socialization scholarship remains indebted to Hymes’ work, we also show how LS scholars are unique in their elaboration above and beyond his vision.