PSY 409B, April 30, 2006
Outline #8 – Interpreting Interruption in Conversation
By: Anthony Lagondino
Gender Discourse by Deborah Tannen (Oxford University press, 1994) pages, 68-77.
Instructions
for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
I. Cultural Variation
a. Pacing, Pausing, and Attitude toward simultaneous speech have relative, not absolute values
i. “Fast-Pacing” are not inherent values
1. Result from styles of speakers in interaction relative to each other
ii. “Overlapping” speech serves a cooperative rather than obstructive purpose
1. Reisman coined the term, “contrapuntal conversations” to describe this
2. Most cultures seem to have some form of overlapping during conversation
a. Some overlaps may be much longer in some cultures than in others
b. Women often tend to overlap during conversation
i. Edelsky found two types of floors of conversation within women’s discussions
1. Singly developed where one person talks and the others listen
2. Collaboratively developed floor where more than one voice could talk
a. “Free for All” type of conversation
ii. Men talked more than women in singly developed floors
iii. Women talked as much as men in collaboratively developed floors
1. Implies women are more comfortable talking in groups with more than one voice talking
c. Most instances of overlap – when in casual conversations with friends are cooperative rather than obstructive
II. Ethical Objection: Stereotyping and Conversational Style
a. People who are identified as culturally different with different conversational styles become basis of negative stereotypes
i. Anti-Semitism characteristics of Jewish speakers
1. Loud, aggressive, “pushy”
b. Blame on the minority groups is often due to the effect of the interaction of differing styles
c. Parallel Style Differences
i. Rights of expressiveness in contact with the Rights of sensibilities underlies the stereotyping of minority communities
III. Gender, Ethnicity and Conversational Style
a. Research “proves” that because men interrupt women during conversation, men are trying to dominate them
i. Some disagree with this claim
ii. But they agree that there are cultures that do try to dominate conversations with interruption
iii. Why then can it not be believed that men do try to dominate women?
b. Tannen’s research shows that overlapping speech by high involvement speakers does not create interruption in interaction with other similar-style speakers
c. “Research” applies ethnocentric standards of the majority group to the culturally different behavior of the minority group
i. Although women are not a minority group, women are at a cultural and social disadvantage
1. Most would agree that men dominate women in our culture as in most cultures around the world
d. Consequences for American women of ethnic backgrounds characterized by high involvement conversational styles
i. Styles perceived as pushy, aggressive, and dominating
ii. These styles are far more perceived as negative qualities in women than in men
IV. Tannen’s Conclusions
a. States she is a high involvement speaker and offended by the label of her conversational style being loathsome, based on the standard of those who do not share or understand
b. States the workings of conversations are far more complex than stereotypes given to different kinds of speakers
Related Links:
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/women/ - This is a link to the website, “Do you speak American? What speech do we like best?” The article that is posted is called, Language as Prejudice: Language Myth # 6 - Women Talk Too Much by Janet Holmes. This was an interesting read because it deters the myth that women are to chatterboxes of all conversations. The article mentions a study by two Canadian researchers, Deborah James and Janice Drakich, who reviewed sixty-three studies which examined the amount of talk used by American women and men in different contexts. Women talked more than men in only two studies. I found that this article supplemented the section of Deborah Tannen’s book outlined above.
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/sexlies.htm - This is a link to an excerpt from Deborah Tannen’s book, You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation. It seems to, of course, have a very similar view as Gender and Discourse, but more primarily focuses on men and women in conversation not necessarily different ethnicities. An interesting point she makes is, “the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations, they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.” I find this book to seem relative to other self-help books on marriage because Deborah Tannen stresses that the reason that America has a 50% divorce rate is due in part to the lack of communication between men and women and husbands and wives.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/conversation1.shtml - This link takes you to the BBC website where there is kind of a discussion board, called Your Voice – The Art of Conversation: The Views on Conversation Do’s and Don’ts. I found it interesting because the postings are by men and women, not researchers who have a different view on how they see conversations taking place. Gordon from Boston, UK states, “It has been suggested that men think logically, whilst women think emotionally. With neither understanding the other, is it any wonder that they have difficulty finding a middle ground? Conversation, like relationships, only works when people want it to and never fails when all parties actively work for success.” I agree with Gordon.
My Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bs2006/lagondino/lagondino-home.htm
Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm