This contributed volume will be one of the first to look truly in-depth at the face-to-face interactions within the American family. Working with the same data — audio tape recordings made in four family homes over the course of several years — the contributors focus on extending our knowledge of family discourse and identifying new ways in which family members create and enact their identities. Several broad themes emerge: the underlying dynamics of power and solidarity in the family and how they are reinforced through language; the negotiation of gendered roles in conjunction with family identities, especially in dual-income families; and the ways in which famlies actively confirm their beliefs and values when children are present. This ground-breaking volume will be of interest in linguistics, anthropology, and communications.