1. Communication between the sexes

2.  Conversation is the bonding agent between
ourselves and our society.
 For:
 informing,
 persuading,
 entertaining,
 conveying emotions,
 solving problems

3.  2 kinds of dialogue:
Instrumental
Expressive

4.  Consists of giving information and of
soliciting the same.
Ex: “Where is his office?” “Go north to the 2nd street,
Upper Stratosphere Drive.”
Instrumental talk, which stresses the conveying of
information, may tend to interfere with the free
play of wit and to stifle colorful, creative dialogue
development.

5.  To help, reward, or raise the status of
another, it may serve to reject, show
antagonism, or express negative feelings.
Ex.: “You did a fine job!”
“Susan is the greatest cook!”
 This type of talk covers a wide range of
facilitating and debilitating emotional
dialogue.

6.  Instrumental talk prevails in task-oriented
groups and does not belong under the rubric
conversation.
 Expressive talk is the mainstay and the
obligation of conversationalists.

7.  It is the transferal of information, attitudes,
and emotions from one person to another via
oral discourse.
 The keystone of conversation is speaking.
 Consists of elements such as :
strokes
turns

8.  Fundamental unit of social action.
 A stroke in conversation is
what a hug or pat
is in physical contact.
 It is an act of recognition (Verbal
recognition).
 “An exchange of strokes is a unit of social
intercourse or an alternation in turn-taking.

9. J: Hello Rosie, Haven’t seen you for awhile.
R: Hi, Jackie! How’s everything?
J: Great, great. I’m still at Fabulous Fashions.
How’re you doing?
R: Just fine. I’ve moved from cheese to vegetables
at the supermarket. Well , I have to rush off.
work, work, work , you know.
J: Right! I’ll see you around Rosie
R: Yeah, ‘bye Jackie.

10.  A speech exchange system.
 “Zimmerman and West” see dialogue as a
“speech exchange system.” It is organized so
that (1) one person speaks at a time and (2)
change or alternation of talkers occurs.

11.  Status
 Authority
 Sex (gender)
 Age
 Outside circumstances
Note: When each person is given or takes a
turn, he or she produces one or more units of
discourse.

12.  Turn-taking
 Not only have men been found to talk much more
than women in a mixed group, but they attain
their greater talkativeness in part by interrupting
women or answering questions that are not
addressed to them.
 Men have been found to interrupt women more
often than women interrupt men.

13.  Turn-taking
 Many women have a difficult time getting and
keeping attention in a group.
 When speaking in a group, some women feel that
men put their listening on a “hold pattern” and do
not really hear the. Others complain that when
they offer an idea or suggestion, the group takes
no notice of it.

14.  Overlaps
 Described as instances of speech during which
two persons speak at once.
Ex.
A: I didn’t know you knew Bob
B:
Oh yeah, I met his at Richards

15.  Interruptions
 Is a vocalization before the last word that could signal
a possible end or boundary of a sentence, question, or
other unit of talk.
 Viewed as violation of the turn-taking system of
unwritten rules, which prescribe that the proper place
for speaker change is at the end limit of a unit of
utterance or possible unit.
Ex.
A: Today I met - (speaker may or may not finish his or her sentence)
B:
Oh, I can’t talk – Gotta run!

16.  Silences
 A break in conversational flow is termed a lapse.
 Research suggests that females in female-male
segments fell silent most. For same-sex groups,
all females or all males, these lapses of silence
were scattered more evenly among all talkers.
 Situations (females’ silence)
▪ Delayed minimal response by a male
▪ An overlap by a male
▪ An interruption by a male

17.  Conversational control
 Both delayed minimal responses and interruptions
may be ways to control conversational topics.
 Males appear to assert strongly the right to
control topics, and in so doing they seem to get
little or no negative feedback from females.
 Males ,consciously or unconsciously, deny equal
status to women as conversational partners.

18.  Expression of roles
 Females:
▪ expressive, relational, or supportive talk.
▪ more positive reactions than males to the discussions
▪ showed more ”tension release” (laughing, manifested
more solidarity.
 Males:
▪ surpassed the women in the opinion-giving and
orientation-giving categories of talk.
▪ getting-the-job-done-speech
▪ greater aggressiveness

19.  Selection of topics
 Female
▪ Studies suggest that religion and politics were avoided
▪ Had a greater interest in talking about persons than
things.
▪ Leading topics were men and clothes
 Male
▪ Most frequent tops was business, sports or amusements
▪ Frequent political discussion