The Influence of Familiarity on
Interruptions through Beattie's
viewpoint
Amina Sheeraz
, Hypothesis: A study looking at the frequency of interruptions between male and female
speakers in conversation and the effect of context on this dynamic.
Introduction:
My investigation focuses on the frequency of interruptions and how context significantly
affects the frequency of interruptions between male and female speakers. Interruptions are
often perceived as one speaker talking over the other; there is often no regard for the reason
for the interruption or the situation in which it occurred. However, various theorists have
examined the reasons behind interruptions, that too based on factors like context and
gender and have actually identified reasons behind interruptions.
Zimmerman and West (1975) proposed that in conversations between men and women,
men interrupt more in conversation. However, they only examined a small number of
subjects who all shared the same demographic: white, middle-class men under the age of
35. This is not a representative sample, as they didn’t look at a wider range of different
demographics. This potentially means that their research was flawed, as it was only
representative of middle-class conversations, which may not apply to conversations that may
occur in other groups.
However, more recent research challenged this viewpoint. Geoffrey Beattie opposed this
theory; he recorded 557 interruptions in 10 hours of tutorial discussions and found that men
and women interrupt with similar frequency. In addition, Beattie criticised Zimmerman and
West in two ways. One of the ways in which Beattie criticised Zimmerman and West was that
he said that “one voluable man who could have a disproportionate effect on the total data”,
so this talks about how the difference in data depends on the individual and not necessarily
due to their gender. Futhermore the second thing that he criticised Zimmerman and West for
was their views on whether interruptions relate to power in conversation by asking ‘why do
interruptions reflect dominance, do some not reflect interest or involvement?”
This contrast in views motivated my study. My primary aim was to investigate whether
interruptions are linked to dominance and gender or if they occur naturally in means of
scaffolding the conversation. Specifically I examined whether the frequency of interruptions
differed in mixed gender and same gender conversations. This approach made it clear
whether interruptions are used as a way to display power or simply as a way to show interest
in conversation.
Methodology:
Linguistic Variable:
Interruptions through Beattie's
viewpoint
Amina Sheeraz
, Hypothesis: A study looking at the frequency of interruptions between male and female
speakers in conversation and the effect of context on this dynamic.
Introduction:
My investigation focuses on the frequency of interruptions and how context significantly
affects the frequency of interruptions between male and female speakers. Interruptions are
often perceived as one speaker talking over the other; there is often no regard for the reason
for the interruption or the situation in which it occurred. However, various theorists have
examined the reasons behind interruptions, that too based on factors like context and
gender and have actually identified reasons behind interruptions.
Zimmerman and West (1975) proposed that in conversations between men and women,
men interrupt more in conversation. However, they only examined a small number of
subjects who all shared the same demographic: white, middle-class men under the age of
35. This is not a representative sample, as they didn’t look at a wider range of different
demographics. This potentially means that their research was flawed, as it was only
representative of middle-class conversations, which may not apply to conversations that may
occur in other groups.
However, more recent research challenged this viewpoint. Geoffrey Beattie opposed this
theory; he recorded 557 interruptions in 10 hours of tutorial discussions and found that men
and women interrupt with similar frequency. In addition, Beattie criticised Zimmerman and
West in two ways. One of the ways in which Beattie criticised Zimmerman and West was that
he said that “one voluable man who could have a disproportionate effect on the total data”,
so this talks about how the difference in data depends on the individual and not necessarily
due to their gender. Futhermore the second thing that he criticised Zimmerman and West for
was their views on whether interruptions relate to power in conversation by asking ‘why do
interruptions reflect dominance, do some not reflect interest or involvement?”
This contrast in views motivated my study. My primary aim was to investigate whether
interruptions are linked to dominance and gender or if they occur naturally in means of
scaffolding the conversation. Specifically I examined whether the frequency of interruptions
differed in mixed gender and same gender conversations. This approach made it clear
whether interruptions are used as a way to display power or simply as a way to show interest
in conversation.
Methodology:
Linguistic Variable:
