text 18

who's in charge?

the mother

• turn taking- mother has the most turns of speech, showing her dominance as she talks the most
• length of turn- "would you get those chips in there..." her turns tend to be the longest
• most of her turns involve imperative verbs "Mike put all the water in here"  she is in charge as she gives the orders
• the father is the peace maker uses tender term of address "I'll come and serve it honey"

who controls the topic of conversation?

• the mother she changes the subject an dis trying to organise a tense and chaotic situation. "Hi, I'm David's mother, try to ignore me"- very sarcastic and bitter tone of conversation suggests anger and fustration
• "Did you hear I saw Sarah's sister's baby?" - she sudenly changes the topic of conversation nmid sentence