Ochs and Taylor

Ochs and Taylor completed a study in 1992 in which they examined how the family is a political institution through conversational interactions. One argument they proposed is that families are political bodies in that certain members review, judge, formulate codes of conduct, make decisions that evaluate + impact the actions, conditions, thoughts and feelings of other members. 

Ochs and Taylor studied conversations at dinner times which they argue is the first time a whole family can interact with each other by giving stories about their day which draws in the participation of other members. Their findings state that mothers tended to be the introducers of the conversations the majority of the time and children only introduced 1/3 of the time. The class pattern was that the women would select fathers as primary recipients who would be the problematizes. The mother would usually be the person who would try to solve the problem.

In most western cultures, the language that parents use to address and interact with small children can be known as "parentese".