A Study On Gender Differences In Interruption By Talk Show Hosts And Hostesses

Interruption is a common speech act in daily conversation. As a particular way ofcommunication, it attracts more and more attention. But when reviewing the literature inChinese, few researches are found in this field. Therefore, based on conversation analysis,a tentative research is made on gender differences of interruption in Chinese talk show.216interruption conversations are selected from12episodes in six Chinese talkshows and divided into same-gender groups and gender mixed groups. The data areclassified into three aspects: interruption patterns, interruption purposes and interruptioneffects. Quantitative analysis is made by Chi-square test, probability statistics. Someconclusions are drawn as follows.On interruption patterns, significant differences exist in interruption patterns. Hostsemploy more butting-in interruption than hostesses and hostesses use more overlaps andparenthetical remarks. On interruption purposes, gender differences exist. Compared withhostesses, hosts are more likely to explain further for the audience towards the topic. Bythe contrast, hostesses prefer to interrupt guests for expressing agreement with guests.Moreover, hosts have a better consciousness than hostesses to control the pace and timeof program reasonably. On interruption effects, the successful interruption rate ofhostesses is much higher than hosts. While on unsuccessful interruption, there exists nosignificant gender difference.All in all, social context and cultural background will contribute a lot to thesedifferences. Because of the influence by “male superiority to female”, men take dominantposition, while women in subordinate status. Thus, the gender differences are alsoreflected in language and speech. Males hope to highlight and consolidate this priority inconversation, while females prefer to positively cooperate and agree with others.Affected by women movement, the awareness of equality between men and women hasbeen increasingly strengthened. Meanwhile the gap between them is reduced gradually.