International Journal of Linguistics & Communication

Communicating Inclusion: An Analysis of Family Conversation
H. Paul LeBlanc

Abstract
Prior studies into human interaction from an ethnomethodological perspective have demonstrated that indi-viduals create, define, negotiate, maintain, and therefore "do" relationship through interaction which is regu-larly patterned and organized. Based upon Mandebaum’s (1987) notion of coupleness, the current study ex-tends the definition beyond the dyad to the larger group of family. Families, comprised of individuals in rela-tion to each other, interact in ways that can be directly observed and therefore demonstrate the "doing" of family. This study uses conversation analytic techniques, applied to an actual, naturalistic family interaction, to examine how a family defines itself through interaction. The study demonstrates that the relationships of family are performed through inclusive tactics and strategies such as the co-telling of co-participated events, requests for information about daily activities, planning of future shared events, and shared attempts at the construction of meaning. The study discusses the strengths and weaknesses of conversation analytic tech-niques in examining relational communication.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijlc.v6n2a1