Backchannel support and interruption in the speech of males and females

Communication is one of the most important aspects of everyday life. One of its most characteristic features is its diversity as “it rangers from the mass media and popular culture, through language to individual and social behavior” (Fiske 1990:13). The way we talk depends on a number of factors, such as where a conversation takes place, when, why, how and with whom. Thus, “One person’s language use will vary widely according to the needs of the social context” (Jule 2008:27). One has to learn how to communicate successfully through many situational interactions since both communicative competence and success consist in making appropriate choices in contextual, situational and social settings. It is usually stressed that whereas men’s communication styles are associated with competition and dominance, women’s conversation strategies are based on cooperation and politeness (Trask 1999:183). In the following paper we intend to verify the linguistic data obtained so far and focus on the most principal aspects of communication, which are: turn taking, backchannels and interruptions. The purpose of the analysis is to investigate characteristics of conversation strategies in the speech of both male and female speakers talking to each other and exchanging their views on a particular topic during relatively spontaneous male-female interactions, that is mixed-gender interviews. We will seek to analyze the occurrence of backchannels and interruptions the use of which could be indicative of either support, agreement, involvement or dominance, competition and even hostility on the part of the speakers. The participants consist of randomly selected students at the age of 20-25 who study English at the English Department.