Abstract

Investigated the phenomenon of problematization, that is, the activity of evaluating and challenging the participants' discourse, unfolding during family dinner interaction on 16 Italian families, consisting of father, mother, younger child (3-6 years) and older child. Problematization has an important role in the individual development because it is also by it that children are socialised to the use of language and they learn about reality (Ochs and Taylor, 1992). Data were collected by means of systematic observation and were analysed with log-linear models. Results show that there are rules of problematization shared by families. The rules show that: the parents address the problematization toward children and vice versa; the mother address the problematization to the younger child and the father to the older; each family member addresses the problematization to the member belonging to the other generation who is not problematizing him or her. Results are discussed in terms of intrafamily variability and inter-family.