Deontic Autonomy in Family Interaction

Abstract

The multimodal conversation analysis in this paper shows how an au pair and a mother use several turns consisting of various bodily and multilingual elements to persuade a 5-year-old to go to the bathroom. We examine the participants’ orientation to the child’s deontic autonomy; that is, his right to determine his own actions. The analysis shows that although the au pair and child disagree on whether the child should go to the bathroom, they both orient to the same norms of interaction and the norm of deontic autonomy more specifically.