| Family mealtimes are often multiparty settings characterised by co-present family members engaged in both talk and eating. The number of co-present members has implications for the organization of talk, such as for the allocation of turns and the sequential organisation of talk. Multiparty talk is a distinct phenomenon that occurs when three or more people are co-present and engaged in interaction (Sacks, 1995). The paper examines extracts from extended sequences of talk among family members during a breakfast mealtime in the kitchen and dining area of an Australian family. Co-present members include the mother and her four sons aged 4 to 10 years. The material was video recorded and then transcribed using the Jeffersonian system. Conversation analysis of the naturally occurring talk explicates the methods used by members to nominate a next speaker and bring about two-party talk within this multi-party breakfast and, second, how the nominated next speaker manages the nomination as next speaker. A range of multi-modal methods for accomplishing speaker selection were used by family members to bring about two-party talk within this multi-party setting of breakfast. These include the use of personal names, categorical terms, collective pronouns, the use of gaze, physical proximity and a range of prosodic features. The paper shows how turn design and the sequential organisation of talk are sensitive both to the occasion of having breakfast and to the multi-party nature of the setting. |
