NARRATIVES AND EXPLANATIONS DURING MEALTIME CONVERSATIONS IN NORWAY AND THE US

Mealtimes reveal culturally specific ways of talking, and constitute o pportunities for socialization of children into those ways. In 22 Norw egian families and 22 American families, matched for age and gender of preschool-aged child and for participant constellation, mealtimes wer e examined for the occurrence and type of narrative and explanatory ta lk. All indices suggested that the Norwegian families produced more na rrative talk - in particular, talk about minor deviations from social scripts - whereas the American families produced more explanatory talk , particularly talk focused on explanations for physical events or for individual behaviors. When Norwegian families gave explanations, they were likely to be focused on social norms and deviations from them, l ike their narratives. The results are interpreted in relation to the N orwegian cultural values of mitigated collectivism, egalitarianism, ho mogeneity, and implicit social rules, in contrast to American values o f individualism, diversity, and explicit formulation and transmission of civic values.