Gender in Interruptive Turns at Talk-In-Interaction

Abstract

In this paper, gender and its role in interruptive turns at talk-in-interaction are examined. Research on the topic of gender in interaction and gender and interruption reflects a tension between essentialist and contextual views. Using the research methods of conversation analysis, this paper examines interruptions in a transcript of a conversation between a male and a female speaker. This examination of the form and function of the interruptions appears to support the idea that gender as a construct is situated rather than fixed.