Agency and responsibility in reported speech

The present study aims to discuss the notion of participation in relation to the concepts of agency and responsibility within the framework of language socialization. The argument presented in this study is that the dimension of agency must be included in the conceptualization of the various speaker positions within the notion of participation, in order to describe how the processes of language socialization toward moral order come about in the language practices of the family. The study explores the relationship between agency, responsibility and participation from the perspective of reported speech. Drawing on data from dinner table conversations in Danish families, the study provides a qualitative analysis of two narratives about a problematic event in which the target child is involved. The analysis demonstrates that the participants do not separate agency from the speaker position in these embedded positions of participation; rather, agency and responsibility are invoked, made salient and negotiated in interactional processes and hence embedded in the organization of participation.