DIPLOMARBEIT / DIPLOMA THESIS Titel der Diplomarbeit / Title of the Diploma Thesis „Constituting Parental Identities in Families – Analyzing Stance in the Family Sitcom modern family“ verfasst von / submitted by Nicole Saurer angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.) Wien, 2018 / Vienna, 2018 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 190 344 456 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / UF Englisch, UF Geographie und Wirtschaftskunde degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Ute Smit Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank my family for supporting me in every way imaginable and believing in me. Mama, thank you for having an open ear for every little problem and giving advice when I needed one. Papa, thank you for your generosity and for enabling a carefree education. Nadine, thank you for motivating and encouraging me constantly. I would have certainly not managed it without you! I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Ute Smit for her constant support during the whole process of writing this diploma thesis from the beginning to the very end and her kind and encouraging words in times of hopelessness and frustration. Your critical comments and proficient advice generated my motivation and helped me to improve academically. Thank you very much! Finally, I would like to thank my friends for proofreading this thesis and providing helpful feedback and for the emotional support throughout my studies, especially in challenging times! Table of contents List of abbreviations.....................................................................................................................i List of figures................................................................................................................................i List of tables.................................................................................................................................i 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2. Family and interaction ............................................................................................... 3 2.1. Definition of family .................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1. Standard North American family .................................................................................................. 4 2.1.2. Blended family .............................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.3. Same-sex parents and adopted children ...................................................................................... 6 2.2. Family and language .................................................................................................. 7 2.3. Speech event and social acts ...................................................................................... 8 3. Identity construction .................................................................................................. 9 3.1. Definition .................................................................................................................. 9 3.1.1. Identity and conversation ........................................................................................................... 10 3.1.2. Identity and stance ..................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.3. Identity and gender .................................................................................................................... 13 3.2. Performance and facework ...................................................................................... 14 3.3. Discourse ................................................................................................................. 15 4. Stance ...................................................................................................................... 16 4.1. Definition ................................................................................................................ 16 4.2. Evaluation, positioning and alignment ...................................................................... 19 5. Parental identities in family interaction .................................................................... 21 5.1. Sex versus gender .................................................................................................... 21 5.2. Traditional discourse of family roles ......................................................................... 23 5.3. Parental positions in conflict talk .............................................................................. 28 5.4. Representation of gender stereotypes in television .................................................. 28 6. Television studies ..................................................................................................... 29 6.1. Scripted dialogue ..................................................................................................... 30 6.1.1. Sociolinguistic perspectives on scripted dialogue....................................................................... 30 6.1.2. Benefits and shortcomings of analyzing scripted dialogue ......................................................... 31 6.1.3. Scripted dialogue versus natural conversation ........................................................................... 32 6.2. Sitcom and modern family ........................................................................................ 34 6.2.1. Definition and characteristics ..................................................................................................... 34 6.2.2. modern family ............................................................................................................................. 36 7. Methodology ........................................................................................................... 39 7.1. Analyzing stance ...................................................................................................... 40 7.1.1. Stance triangle ............................................................................................................................ 40 7.1.2. Contextualizing stance ................................................................................................................ 41 7.2. Affective and epistemic stance moves ...................................................................... 42 7.3. Framing theory ........................................................................................................ 44 7.4. Data selection .......................................................................................................... 46 7.5. Transcription conventions ........................................................................................ 47 8. Analysis ................................................................................................................... 48 8.1. Phil and Claire Dunphy – Standard North American family ........................................ 48 8.2. Gloria and Jay Pritchett - Blended family .................................................................. 61 8.3. Cam and Mitch Pritchett-Tucker – Same-sex parents and adopted child .................... 69 8.4. Discussion ................................................................................................................ 79 8.4.1. Identity construction through stancetaking ............................................................................... 79 8.4.2. Representation of parental roles and social implications ........................................................... 90 9. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 95 10. References ............................................................................................................ 98 10.1. Primary sources ....................................................................................................... 98 10.2. Secondary sources ................................................................................................... 98 11. Appendix ............................................................................................................. 106 Abstract (English) ........................................................................................................... 123 Abstract (German) ......................................................................................................... 124 List of abbreviations SNAF standard North American family List of figures Figure 1: Stance triangle. ....................................................................................................................... 40 List of tables Table 1: General overview of selected data .......................................................................................... 47 Table 2: Transcription conventions ....................................................................................................... 48 i 1. Introduction Television became the dominant mass medium towards the end