Family talk : discourse and identity in four American families / edited by Deborah Tannen, Shari Kendall, Cynthia Gordon.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: family talk / Shari Kendall. Pt. I. Interactional dynamics: power and solidarity. Power maneuvers and connection maneuvers in family interaction / Deborah Tannen -- Talking the dog: framing pets as interactional resources in family discourse / Deborah Tannen -- "I just feel horribly embarrassed when she does that": constituting a mother's identity / Cynthia Gordon -- Finding the right balance between connection and control: a father's identity construction in conversations with his college-age daughter / Diana Marinova. Pt. II. Gendered identities in dual-income families. Father as breadwinner, mother as worker: gendered positions in feminist and traditional discourses of work and family / Shari Kendall -- Gatekeeping in the family: how family members position one another as decision makers / Alexandra Johnston -- A working father: one man's talk about parenting at work / Cynthia Gordon, Deborah Tannen, Aliza Sacknovitz. Pt. III. Family values and beliefs. "A gore's our guy": linguistically constructing a family political identity / Cynthia Gordon -- Sharing common ground: the role of place reference in parent-child conversation / Philip LeVine -- Family members interacting while watching TV / Alla V. Tovaresn.

"Through everyday talk, individuals forge the ties that can make a family. Family members use language to manage a household, create and maintain relationships, and negotiate and reinforce values and beliefs. The studies gathered in Family Talk are based on a unique research project in whichfour dual-income American families recorded everything they said for a week. Family Talk extends our understanding of family discourse and of how family members construct, negotiate, and enact their identities as individuals and as families. The volume also contributes to the discourse analysis ofnaturally-occurring interaction and makes significant contributions to theories of framing in interaction.Family Talk addresses issues central to the academic discipline of discourse analysis as well as to families themselves, including decision-making and conflict-talk, the development of gendered family roles, sociability with and socialization of children, the development of social and politicalbeliefs, and the interconnectedness of professional and family life. It provides illuminating insights into the subtleties of family conversation, and will be of interest to scholars and students in sociolinguistics, discourse studies, communications, anthropological linguistics, cultural studies,psychology, and other fields concerned with the language of everyday interaction or family interaction."--Publisher description.

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