Extract 2
1 Eamonn: and here’s- here- hh
from the headmistress’s
2 point of view <uhhh .hh whe::n does that
3 become an issue for you> as to the amount
4 of makeup and how its worn↑
5 (0.4)
6 Chris: .hhhh to start with i- i completely empathise
7 with young people and what they ha:ve (.) to
8 go through- (0.2) i’ve got three
children
9 >twenty-one nineteenfifteen < we’ve had ac ne
10 .hh we’ve had other skin conditions .hh
11 we’ve had the teasing and we’ve >had to
12 deal with it as a family as well as a
13 school< .hhh
In extract 2, Eamon requests that Christine provide “the
headmistress’s point of view” (lines 1-4), but it is not until
line 13 that Christine moves to do so. Instead, after hesitation (line
5) Christine undertakes to establish her own identity as a mother.
Christine explicitly marks her motherhood by referring to her “three
children” (lines 6- 8). She then offers alignment with her co-incumbent
Jenna, via a three-part list (Jefferson, 1990) referring to “acne”,
“other skin conditions” and “the teasing” (lines 9 - 11), all of
which are direct reference to concerns Jenna has previously introduced.
Christine’s use of the definite article in “the teasing”, strengthens
the sense of collective experience, suggesting a phenomenon familiar to
those listening (Du Bois, 1980). In asserting “we’ve had to deal with
it as a family as well a school” (lines 12-13), first-person plural
pronouns invoke both Family and School MCDs, enabling Christine to speak
as a mother and as a headteacher. This then becomes the
springboard from which Christine subsequently moves to disagree with
Jenna’s stance.