Sociolinguistics

Introduction

The microcosm of YouTube is a popularly visited platform but is a relatively unexplored field in research. Information regarding YouTubers’ speech is primarily centered around voice, such as in this article from The Atlantic. Influencers are YouTubers with a large following on YouTube and belong to a community, such as beauty, comedy, etc. and often film collaboration videos together, in which they complete an activity together while conversing in front of a camera.

Accordingly, this study examined influencers’ uses of successful interruptions and uptalk. Successful interruptions display the interrupter’s dominance, while uptalk, a rising intonation at the end of declarations, invites addressees to add input to maintain conversation (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2013). Successful interruptions were defined as i) the interrupter interjecting while the speaker talks, regardless of the latter’s intonation trajectory, and ii) the interrupter taking over before the speaker ceases talking. This definition was motivated by the notion that taking turns is expected while speaking; interruptions violate this politeness norm and contribute to displays of gender identity and power characteristics.                       

Excerpts from conversations were analyzed in relation to previous studies’ findings. Lynn Smith-Lovin and Charles Brody’s work on social status in groups suggests that successful interruptions are attributed to men’s indexing of power and masculinity (1989). As well, in Roger and Schumacher’s 1983 study, and Roger and Nesshoever’s 1987 study, they found positive relationships between successful interruptions and dominance traits (Tannen, 1999). In addition, uptalk has been associated with women’s language (Gorman, 1993). From Penelope Brown’s 1980 study on politeness in villagers in Tenejapa, Mexico, she found that females tended to put more effort in enacting positive politeness than and toward men, which she and Stephen Levinson described as conveying unity (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2013).

Altogether, this study’s motivation was to identify whether choices behind successful interruptions and uptalk were common in the speech of YouTube influencers, and reflected observable gender identity performances and power asymmetry expressions. Even though these linguistic practices’ links to gender and power, there exists little research in the context of YouTube. Hence, this study demonstrated that despite the presence of a camera, gender and power hierarchies in influencers’ conversations resembled those in non-YouTuber interactions, and that successful interruptions and uptalk normalize social imbalances between genders on the platform.

Methodology

Five-minute YouTube video segments of dyadic, single and mixed-gender interactions between influencers within and across the beauty and comedy domains were transcribed and analyzed. Conversation and discourse analyses were performed on dyadic interactions between male and female American, native English-speaking influencers. The following pairings’ conversations were analyzed: Jeffree Star and Tati Westbrook, Jeffree Star and James Charles, Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson, James Charles and Liza Koshy, James Charles and Jenna Marbles, Bethany Mota and Kian Lawley, and Jaclyn Hill and Kim Kardashian. In transcriptions, successful interruptions were indicated by a red square bracket with no corresponding right square bracket in the person being interrupted’s line of speech, while uptalk was marked with a blue question mark and the associated declarative statement in blue.

Results

The five-minute video segments produced consistent, significant results in successful interruption and uptalk frequencies, summarized in Tables 1-4 (see Appendix A). In the transcribed conversations, female influencers were interrupted more frequently by male influencers and used uptalk at a similar or greater frequency than males.

In male-male interactions, each successfully interrupted the other with the same frequency, but their uptalk frequencies were imbalanced.

In the female-female interaction, successful interruption and uptalk frequencies were imbalanced, in that the female who successfully interrupted more often did not use uptalk more, which deviated from the pattern in mixed-gender data.

Analysis

Previous research points to successful interruptions being associated with males to establish dominance (Smith-Lovin & Brody, 1989). This power move is depicted in the transcribed conversation between beauty influencers Jeffree Star (coded JEF) and Tati Westbrook (coded TAT), in which they talk about Jeffree’s choice of shaving his eyebrows:

Tati provides a supportive backchannel in line 235 (timestamp 8:41), in which she is successfully interrupted by Jeffree so he can continue his story for several lines of speech. He did not cede the floor when Tati unsuccessfully interrupted him while he was speaking on a topic in which he has more knowledge than Tati in line 239 (timestamp 8:50), maintaining the power gap between them.

It is also worth exploring how males react when females exercise this power move instead. One example is in a conversation between beauty influencer James Charles (coded JAM) who successfully interrupts Liza Koshy (coded LIZ), a comedy influencer, while she is speaking about YouTube’s shift:

Liza reciprocated James’ successful interruption in line 47 (timestamp 15:45). In turn, James agrees with Liza in line 48, then successfully interrupts her in line 51 (timestamp 15:50) to take the floor again within five seconds. Furthermore, James’ expression changed at 15:45 from nonchalant to holding his tongue, when Liza successfully took the floor from him, designating her interruption as unnatural; subsequently, James presided over both the female and the conversation again. This case perpetuates the notion that male influencers are allowed to interject to establish dominance, whereas this would be inappropriate for female influencers.

James’ Expression Before and When Liza Successfully Interrupts Him

With regard to uptalk, female influencers tended to use this female-associated linguistic feature (Gorman, 1993) to maintain conversation by inviting addresses to add input, which was depicted in Liza and James’ conversation. In the following excerpt, Liza discusses how her outfit had been criticized:

Liza relied on pauses and slight intonation rises before using uptalk at the end of her statements, culminating in the addressee contributing. After Liza’s pause in line 184, she injected uptalk in lines 187 and 188, when explaining how criticism affected her. James interrupts after Liza’s uptalk in line 188 (timestamp 19:16), taking the floor to express prior knowledge in handling a similar situation. Liza’s uptalk signaled that entry points for interjections were available. Thus, Liza deferred speaker authority to James, allowing him to spearhead the conversation, thus highlighting unequal linguistic expectations bestowed upon each gender.

Whereas male influencers added uptalk at the end of their declarations to appear funny, female influencers were tasked with facilitating the conversation, such as in the conversation between Kian Lawley (coded KIA), a comedy YouTuber, and Bethany Mota (coded BET), a beauty YouTuber, Kian describes the foundation he will be applying:

In lines 24-26, Kian held the foundation against his hand in conjunction with his rising intonation to elicit laughter. He did not mean to engage Bethany in conversation, since she did not chime in after his use of uptalk in lines 24 (timestamp 0:54) and 28 (timestamp 0:55), but stifled a laugh, indicating his actions as comical. Kian used uptalk again in line 28 (timestamp 0:55) to emphasize his lack of knowledge about the product – with Bethany still containing her laughter – then continues talking. Thus, the male influencer was unwilling to yield the speaker position after implementing uptalk, showing that he was not obligated to maintain conversation flow.

Bethany Holding in Laughter and Laughing After Kian’s Use of Uptalk

Conclusion

Overall, these linguistic features positioned female influencers to consolidate their gender identity by being polite through being successfully interrupted more often by males and of using uptalk to facilitate conversations. On the whole, the YouTubers studied have millions of subscribers and cater toward younger female audiences, which poses multiple problems. These include: the normalization of females being interrupted by males, establishing a power gradient, and of females taking on the role of facilitating conversations, organizing a gender asymmetry on YouTube. Ultimately, as YouTube rises in popularity, influencers’ speech may permeate non-YouTubers’ conversations, shaping the evolution of gender and language performances on a larger scale.

 

References

Eckert, P. & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and Gender (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Gorman, J. (1993, August 15). ON LANGUAGE; Like, Uptalk? The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/15/magazine/on-language-like-uptalk.html

Griffiths, S. (2013, December 6). American men have started to talk like WOMEN: Californian  study finds that males are rising in pitch at the end of sentences. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2519363/Men-started-talk-like-WOMEN-Study-finds-males-rising-pitch-end-sentences.html

Rosenberg, E. (2018). How Youtube Ad Revenue Works. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from Investopedia Web site: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/person-finance/032615/how-youtube-ad-revenue-works.asp

Smith-Lovin, L., & Brody, C. (1989). Interruptions in Group Discussions: The Effects of Gender  and Group Composition. American Sociological Review, 54(3), 424-435. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/2095614

Tannen, D. (Ed.). (1993). Gender and Conversational Interaction. New York, NY: Oxford  University Press.

YouTube videos

Charles, J. [James Charles]. (2019, February 26). Doing Jenna Marbles’ Makeup [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhfGLn2wu9k

Charles, J. [James Charles]. (2018, December 7). Doing Liza Koshy’s Makeup [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvQj2VVd5s8

Charles, J. [James Charles]. (2018, December 4). Palette Swap ft. Jeffree Star [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfs-4DPlm7I

Hill, J. [Jaclyn Hill]. (2017, July 11). Get Ready With Me & Kim Kardashian | Jaclyn Hill [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEhOZooB3bw

Mota, B. [Bethany Mota]. (2017, May 28). KIAN LAWLEY DOES MY MAKEUP | Bethany Mota [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP6FiH8vBMo

Star, J. [jeffreestar]. (2019, June 2). Kylie Skin Review with Shane Dawson [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnhub9-KLsE

Star, J. [jeffreestar]. (2017, June 17). GET READY IN MY PRIVATE JET feat. Tati Westbrook [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0KXRM5GuMY

Introduction and Background

Sports are integral to many societies. They provide a chance for individuals of different backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities to come together and demonstrate their talent, passion, and national pride. However, despite the promotion of diversity, the sport’s culture has implicitly incorporated gender stereotypes. These stereotypes are reflected in the athletes’ behaviors, the media’s representation of the sport, and society’s view of the sport. Gender studies are important to help understand how athletes in different sports, even ones considered gender-neutral, are influenced by these gender stereotypes.

The concept of affordances has been a widely researched area in linguistics, psychology, and sociology. Norman (1999) argued that perceived affordances are the behaviors that people believe they can do based on society’s beliefs, which encourage some behaviors and discourage others. The way we speak also reflects our perceived affordances because we feel entitled to speak a certain way depending on our social status, expertise, and goals in the interaction (Segalowitz, 2001). However, those that choose to speak in a manner that is not acceptable for their status will face negative consequences (Aronin, 2014).

A previous study looked at how the media, which is influenced by gender stereotypes, frames women’s sports as inferior to men’s sports in basketball and tennis tournaments by framing women’s accomplishments as insignificant (Messner et al., 1993). Our study expands because we focus on how the athletes’ language, not the media, demonstrates gender stereotypes in tennis.

Our study compared the interviews of tennis stars after winning their first grand slam to their interviews after winning multiple grand slams. We found that male athletes displayed confident language in both interviews, while female athletes displayed confidence after winning multiple grand slams. The linguistic features that represented confidence displays were the assertiveness in players’ accounts of success and the frequency and purpose of hedges, which are short phrases or words that convey uncertainty. The gender differences in the tennis players’ displays of confidence portray that men may perceive themselves to have greater affordances to speak with confidence, due to gender stereotypes. These gender stereotypes suggest that men should act assertively and women should act modestly (Prentice & Carranza, 2002). Overall, our study may reflect the broader societal pattern of gender differences in affordances, due to professional expertise, social standing, and gender stereotypes.

Methods

This study looked at gender differences in linguistic features that reflected confidence in the interviews of tennis players after they won their first grand slam and after they won three or more grand slams. A player gets a grand slam title when they win one of the major tournaments, which are Wimbledon, the French Open, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open. The following table shows information about the players we studied (Table 1). All interviews were found on YouTube.

The first linguistic feature studied was the assertiveness in the accounts of success. We looked at the athletes’ use of direct language when describing how they won the grand slam or progressed in their career. Phrases that conveyed uncertainty and doubt were “I think” or “I was trying to.” Phrases, such as “I knew” or direct statements, conveyed confidence (Johnson & Maratsos, 1977).

 The second linguistic feature studied was the frequency and function of hedges. Robin Lakoff defined hedges as utterances that indicate uncertainty and are oftentimes used in women’s language (Lakoff, 1973). Common hedges in the interviews were:

I don’t know – little bit – kind of – I guess – maybe – probably

The frequency was the number of hedges per second of response time and was measured for each player.

The functions of hedges were also noted for each player. There were three functions:

Self-softening hedges were used by athletes when they shared opinions about themselves. They were to protect against the possible criticism towards the athlete’s self (Salager-Meyer, 1994). Other-softening hedges were used by athletes when they shared opinions about another player. They were to protect the other player from possible criticism (Myers, 1989). Low knowledge hedges were used by athletes when they did not have enough knowledge about a subject (Wang, 2016). Only the self-softening hedges lowered the display of confidence because they portrayed uncertainty in oneself.

Results and Analysis

The Accounts of Success after First Grand Slam

The tennis players differed in their assertive language in the accounts of success after their first grand slam. Two out of the three males used assertive language, including definitive statements. An example is found in Roger Federer’s 2004 interview. The interviewer asked Federer if he had ever expected his game to be where it is at currently. Federer’s response is:

Federer contrasts his younger self with his older self in his response. In lines 14-15, Federer uses the phrase “never thought” to clarify that his younger self displayed the lack of confidence in his tennis ability. On the other hand, in lines 15-16, Federer emphasizes that his current self-projects confidence in his tennis talent. The phrase “I always knew” indicates that Federer is very certain that he has talent.

On the other hand, the three female tennis players used nonassertive language in their accounts of success after their first grand slam. An example is found in Angelique Kerber’s 2016 interview. The interviewer asked Kerber what made her think, in the months leading up to the Australian Open, that she would win. Kerber’s response is:

In line 11, Kerber uses the phrase “I was trying…to,” which conveys that she was not certain about her statement regarding her optimism about winning major tournaments. This uncertain language displays a lack of confidence and shifts personal responsibility for the statement away from her to protect her from possible criticism.

The Accounts of Success after Multiple Grand Slams

After achieving three or more grand slams, both female tennis players and male tennis players used confident language in their accounts of success, although female players still used nonassertive language.

Frequency and Function of Hedges after First Grand Slam

This study also looked at the frequency and function of hedges in the interviews after the tennis players’ first grand slam. Both genders only used self-softening hedges, which decrease the confidence display. However, female tennis players used more hedges than male players did (Table 2).

An example of the self-softening hedge is found in William’s 2002 interview. The interviewer asked Williams how she elevated her game in the last year. Williams responded:

In line 13, Williams uses the hedge little bit to lessen the possible backlash to her opinion that she should have been ranked better than nine or ten. The use of self-softening hedges displays unconfident language because the athlete is protecting himself or herself from possible criticism.

Frequency and Function of Hedges after Multiple Grand Slams

In the interviews after multiple grand slams, males and females used more types of hedges. As seen in Table 2, both genders used self-softening and other-softening hedges and only male players used low-knowledge hedges in their later career interviews. Although the total frequency of all hedges increased for male tennis players after multiple grand slams, they used low knowledge hedges and other-softening hedges, which do not affect confidence displays.

However, both genders used fewer self-softening hedges compared to their earlier interviews, as shown in Figure 1. Self-softening hedges lower the display of confidence so both genders displayed more confidence in their later career interviews.

 

Discussion

In the first grand slam interviews, males used more confident language in accounts of success and fewer self-softening hedges when compared to female players. On the other hand, females used nonassertive language in accounts of success and more self-softening hedges. The pattern of males using confident language and females using nonassertive language after their first grand slam may portray that females perceive themselves to have less capability to speak with confident language due to gender stereotypes. These stereotypes pressure women to act indecisively so female players may use nonassertive language to conform to the gender norms (Eagly & Mladinic, 1994). On the other hand, male players may speak confidently to conform to the gender stereotypes that men should act assertively.

One deviation from the common pattern that male professionals use confident language in their first grand slam interview was Rafael Nadal. Nadal displayed nonassertive language in his accounts of success and used more self-softening hedges than two of the female players in his 2006 interview. Although he broke the gender stereotype that men should act confidently, he did not face backlash. The media viewed Nadal’s language after his first grand slam as being gentleman-like and polite. This one case may represent the broader pattern that society comments upon those who do not conform to societal norms.

In the multiple grand slam interviews, all three males used confident language in accounts of success and used fewer self-softening hedges compared to their earlier career interviews. All three females used both confident and nonassertive language in accounts of success and used fewer self-softening hedges compared to their earlier career interview. Both genders’ use of confident language in accounts of success and their lower frequency of self-softening hedges in their later interviews may be due to their perceptions that the winning of multiple grand slams gives them more entitlement to speak confidently. The higher expertise in their profession gives both genders more affordances to act confidently (Sarsons & Xu, 2015). However, females still spoke with nonassertive language in their accounts of success in their later career interviews because of the gender stereotypes that maintain that women should act modestly.

Nadal was, again, the deviation case, because he used more self-softening hedges than two of the female tennis players in the multiple grand slams interviews. It is uncommon for male players to use a high amount of self-softening hedges so the media notices Nadal’s uncertain language. However, the media views the unconfident language as a display of humility.

Conclusion

Overall, our results show that both gender stereotypes and professional expertise may affect a tennis player’s perceived affordances to speak confidently. Both genders see themselves as being able to speak assertively once they have achieved a higher status, through the winning of multiple grand slams. However, the female players still speak indirectly and unassertively in some scenarios because they conform to the gender stereotypes which state they should act modestly. These patterns reflect the broader gender differences in perceived abilities to behave in certain ways based on career accomplishments, social status, and societal stereotypes. We show that gender stereotypes can be widespread and reflected in the language. Even the sports that seem gender-neutral, such as tennis, are not safe from these gender patterns.

To Read Next:

Full research paper

Impactful women in the world of sports:

Ted Talk: This tennis icon paved the way for women in sports

Ted Talk: On tennis, love, and motherhood

Article: The 36 most iconic female athletes of the past century

Current issues facing female athletes:

US Soccer says women don’t deserve equal pay because they have less skill

 

References 

[AneresEleVen]. (2009, February 26). Serena Williams and Pete Sampras Interview (2002) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbrsvISNqzk.

[delpieroaus]. (2008, January 27). Djokovic Interview after 2008 AO Final Pt. 1 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbseGMLQNp8.

[ESPN]. (2018, September 10). 2018 US Open Interview: Novak Djokovic after Defeating Juan Martin del Potro in Men’s Final [Video Final]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwhb6R0Gmgs.

[History Nadal]. (2019, September 13). Center Court with Chris Myers: Rafael Nadal 2006 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYadF-M0g2A.

Fox, Mike. (2020, January 20). Beyond the Baseline – Angelique Kerber 2019 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FgBOWGN0fI.

[Indian Wells Media Co.]. (2016, September 4). Angelique Kerber US Open ESPN Interview [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-iY5a6lMQ.

[Indian Wells Media Co.]. (2017, July 16). Roger Federer Wimbledon 2017 Championship Interview [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCe-ukkkLWo.

Li, Scarlett. (2010, October 28). 2004 Interview: Charlie Rose – A Conversation with Tennis Great Roger Federer [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFTbGfh8n3c.

[masha19maria]. (2012, June 26). Maria Sharapova Talks Career Slam, Wimbledon, and Olympics ESPN Interview 2012 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1a_6d843rA.

[msfan419]. (2008, November 11). Sharapova speaks with M. Lauer about her Wimbledon win [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACNX6ekRkAc.

[Rafa Nadal – King of Tennis]. (2017, September 10). Rafael Nadal at the ESPN Studio after his Victory at USO 2017 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0nbNvphH_E.

[Serena Williams]. (2015, February 17). Serena Williams ESPN Interview with Chris Evert and Pam Shriver about winning Australian Open 2015 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6whr9oAadgY.

Introduction: What are we studying?

Methods of cooperative communication are present in daily conversations and can be utilized to discuss linguistic differences in groups of people. It includes interjections such as “yeah”, “uh-huh”, and “okay” during a conversation not for the user to take over the conversation, but rather to show support (Tannen 1995). This concept is different from the traditional interruption, which requires the interrupter to talk over a speaker with the intention of terminating their turn speaking (Tannen 1994). The use of supportive overlap has cultural variations as well, as its use was detected more on the island of Antigua than a larger country like England (Tannen 1995). This device was also examined among a group of coworkers at lunch, and White 2003 noted that it was a common linguistic device used in enthusiastic conversation. One of the only studies that examined this supportive overlap in a gendered context is Coates (2003), who looked at the use of overlap among a group of women to determine it’s highly utilized in conversations between women. While previous literature looks at the presence of overlap in a variety of contexts, there remains a content gap regarding its appearance among a group of friends consisting of both genders. The following study serves to examine the relationship between supportive overlap and gender while simultaneously accounting for alternative factors such as conversation type and relationship. Supportive overlap is used primarily among women among a group of friends in order to show support during vulnerable parts of conversations while simultaneously portraying them as a supportive person.

Methods: How to Count the Uncountable

To probe the topic of gendered supportive overlap I audio recorded a group of friends with the same major at UCLA discussing three topics. The group is composed of two men and two women to observe if the difference is overlap is due to gender. I accounted for other variables that could explain the data outside gender, so the group consists of a couple as well.

I wanted to see if the familiarity within the group rather than gender accounts for this linguistic difference in speech. The group thus consists of a group of friends: Javier (male), Geoffrey (male), Tara (female), and Lilia (female). Javier and Lilia are a couple, while the rest of the group are all friends with each other.

I created three situations for the group to discuss: a neutral case, a case more commonly discussed among men, and one among women. The neutral or control topic is one they are all comfortable with: physiology. The following conversation involves controversy in the makeup world, which tends to be a female dominated industry. The final conversation involves controversy among weightlifters, which tends to be a male-dominated discussion and more prevalent among their daily conversations than women. The CDC notes that only 20% of American college woman meet the strength training recommendations while 37% of college men do (CDC). The three questions were constructed as follows: 1. What is the hardest physiology class you have taken?, 2. You are weightlifting at the gym and see someone with incorrect form: what do you do?, 3. Do you think makeup is necessary in the workplace to appear presentable and why?

I collected both qualitative and quantitative data regarding supportive overlap from 6 minutes of each conversation. I counted the number of supportive overlaps based on Tannen’s definition used by each individual in terms of both their gender and relationships and transcribed the data.

Qualitative Analysis: Who Said What

The first case involves opinions on the hardest physiology class at UCLA. Prior to this interaction, Tara had already elicited that she believed the hardest physiology class at UCLA was Physiological Sciences 111A, while Lilia selected a different class entirely.

This case differs from the rest because it shows two women overlapping the speaker. Geoffrey shows a face-threatening act in lines 3 and 4 by explaining a class traditionally found difficult was easier for him, which can appear as bragging. We see his discomfort with the use of uptalk and elongation of the word “better”. Both Tara and Lilia overlap him with positive words to reassure him and show that his social standing is not in question.

The next case examines a conversation about makeup. This conversation arose when they reached a disagreement about the necessity of makeup in the workplace. The following interaction shows Tara’s explanation as to when she chooses to wear makeup.

Tara’s anecdote was used to illustrate her experiences, which are not ones shared by Javier. She expresses vulnerability and thus a face-threatening act by discussing why she wears makeup. In lines 3 and 5, she explains how some wear makeup to “cover up parts” or when “[she] feel[s] insecure”. As a result, Javier says “right” in both lines 4 and 6 immediately following Tara’s displays of vulnerability to illustrate his support for his friend. Tara never previously showed hesitation in her speech, so the use of overlap shows attentiveness and encouragement. Additionally, the use of “right” rather than “sure” and “yeah” carries stronger weight and allows Javier to help alleviate the vulnerability displayed.

Quantitative Analysis: Tallying Up the Overlaps

In the first two conversations, women appeared to initiate more overlap and especially toward men (Table 1). In the third conversation, this trend seems to somewhat dampen. A possible explanation could be explained by the men’s lack of topic familiarity and desire to show support for their female friends. It can also be explained because by the end of the study, Lilia was less talkative due to pulling an all-nighter the evening before.

When analyzing the data in the context of a relationship, I found little to no overlap within a couple. One possible is the unnecessary need for the couple to use linguistic devices like overlap to show their support and attentiveness toward each other.

 Discussion: So what does this all mean?

Conversational analysis among UCLA friends offers evidence of some gendered and relationship difference in the use of supportive overlap during three controversial conversations. Upon further analysis of their conversations, supportive overlap is used to not only show support in a conversation but also to provide assurance during a vulnerable conversation or face-threatening act. Quantitative analysis of the data shows that in 2/3 conversations, women utilized supportive overlap far more than their male counterparts. When rearranging the data based on individuals’ relationship to each other, there is significantly more overlap between friends rather than the couple. While no previous data on such interactions occur, I believe further research on this topic could prove worthwhile.

So what can this all mean? In Ochs & Taylor (1995), we see that the stereotype that women are the more supportive gender was perpetuated by the use of introductions by mothers in dinnertime conversation. Although this study does not look at the use of introduction, this stereotype of women being the more supportive gender is also illustrated in the context of this group of friends in a similar manner, but through the use of cooperative overlap.

I propose more extensive future study to probe the gendered use of supportive overlap in the context of multiple variables.

 

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/earlyrelease201212_07.pdf

Coates, J. (2003). Women Talk: Conversations Between Women Friends, London, Blackwell Publishers, 1996, 324 p. Clio, (11). doi: 10.4000/clio.228

Ochs, E & Taylor, C. (1995). The “Father Knows Best” Dynamic in Dinnertime Narrative.

Tannen, Deborah (1994). The relativity of linguistic strategies: rethinking power and solidarity in gender and dominance. In Gender and Discourse, ed. by Deborah Tannen, 19-52. Oxford University.

Tannen, D. (1995). Conversational style: analyzing talk among friends. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

White, A. (2003). Women’s usage of specific linguistic functions in the context of casual conversation: analysis and discussion. University of Birminghan.

 

 

Introduction

A lively debate on television is always fun to spectate. When the discussion gets heated, it appears as if power shifts at a moments notice — whoever’s speaking at the time seems persuasive and commanding. Sometimes the structure starts to break down, and the speakers begin interrupting each other in a bid for more speaking time.

Research on turn-taking in conversations has been conducted before. In this blog post, we hope to contribute to the scientific literature on turn-taking by investigating what sort of impact gender may have on the dynamic between talk show hosts and their guests. We’re curious to find out whether or not there is a statistical difference between the frequency of interruptions in mixed gender debates when compared to single gender debates on live television. We are also interested in whether the host and guest relationship will have any impact on the frequency of interruptions and if this plays any role in the dynamic between men and women. 

Background Information

There have been numerous studies and established theories about the power dynamic between men and women, and how this manifests itself in spoken language. We expect that the frequency of interruption between men and women will be explained by one of the three major models.

In Deborah Tannen’s difference model, men and women are members of their own distinct culture. This separation between male and female culture means that women and men will take noticeably different approaches to verbal communication (Tannen 1990). These cultures aren’t intrinsically bad or good. Women’s culture isn’t inferior to men’s culture, and it follows that their speech isn’t inferior to men’s speech. Deborah Tannen suggests that the clash of disparate cultures poses problems for respectful and equal communication.

Robin Lakoff proposed a dominance model which asserts that men and women’s unequal places in society’s power structure results in necessarily different communication styles, including how people of different gender are expected to speak and are spoken of (Lakoff 1973). Lakoff suggests that real-world imbalances and inequities will be reflected by linguistic imbalances. These two models both suggest that women and men tend to have distinct speech style and the higher social status of men makes it more likely for men to interrupt in interactions than women.

A very crucial idea that will be utilized in our study is deep interruption, which is an interruption that starts “two or more syllables before or after the last syllable of a place where you’d expect to switch speakers” (West & Zimmerman 1983).  West and Zimmerman predict that men are more likely than women to employ deep interruptions. In other words, it is more likely that men would forcefully change the subject of discourse to their desired topic regardless of the previous speaker’s intention.

However, despite the fact that males have been hypothesized to employ interruptions for domination and control, James and Clarke had very contradictory findings; they found an absence of significant differences in the amount of interruptions between women and men (James & Clarke 1993). Therefore, our first hypothesis is that men and women will average a similar number of interruptions per minute towards the other speaker. We also predict that hosts will tend to interrupt more than guests because of power dynamics between hosts and guests.

Methods

To collect data on turn-taking, we first needed to choose clips of debates to analyze. To make sure that we cover each relevant permutation of genders and speakers, we found four video clips. We have two video clips where the genders are the same (man-man, woman-woman). Then we have two more video clips where the genders are different (man-woman, woman-man). We needed two separate gender video clips to see if their status as host or guest on the show would significantly change our results.

Once we gathered our clips, we transcribed a climactic point in the debate where we found the most interruptions occurring. For each clip, we transcribed 30 seconds of debate. We transcribed a video with a man host and man guest which included Piers Morgan and Ben Shapiro. For the woman host and the man guest, we chose a clip with Cathy Newman and Jordan Peterson. For the man host and woman guest, we chose a clip with Tucker Carlson and Cathy Areu. Finally, for the woman host and woman guest, we chose a clip with Poppy Harlow and Janet Porter.

To transcribe the various videos, we used a transcription method of conversation analysis that included turn-taking markers to clearly indicate the turn of the speaker. This also showed whether the host or guest interrupted each other and if the interruptions occurred, we could see at what point the interruption was made during the speaker’s turn. We were also able to see if men had indeed interrupted women more, or if the level of interruptions were similar from both sides. Through this transcription process, we counted token instances of deep interruptions that were made by each speaker. Once the analysis of the deep interruptions was completed, we were able to collect our metrics and form a conclusion based on the amount of deep interruptions that occurred.

Results

To help visualize our results, we plotted interruptions onto a rough timeline. The reasoning for these visual aids was to help us in our qualitative analyses of the clips. The timeline of interruptions helps to capture the flow of conversation and which ideas the most fiery clashes were centered around. Placing them onto a linear timeline also made it clearer which side of the debate was responsible for most of the interruptions. Here are the visualizations for all four of the clips that we analyzed, were time flows from left to right and only the interruptions are marked on the timeline. We have collated our results from the collection of token instances of deep interruption in Table 1.1 and 1.2 that count up these instances of interruption as a function of interruptions per minute.

 

 

 

 

To summarize, men as hosts interrupted their man guests 8 times per minute and their woman guests 4 times per minute. Women interrupted their man guests 8 times per minute and their woman guests 6 times per minute. Men as guests interrupted their man hosts 2 times per minute and their woman hosts 4 times per minute and women interrupted their man hosts 2 times per minute and their woman hosts 4 times per minute.

Discussion and Conclusion

To touch once more on the focus of this study, we are primarily interested in two dimensions of power in a verbal exchange, the gendered differences between men’s and women’s place in society and social normative expectations, and the dynamic between a host and their guest specifically in the arena of debate talk show. Our predictions based on our original hypothesis following the seminal work of James and Clarke in 1993 stated that we were expecting to not find a significant difference between the rate of interruption from man to woman and woman to man. Our results from analysis of these four clips support this hypothesis, wherein as hosts, people interrupt their guests the same number of times per minute regardless of the guest or host’s gender. In fact, both men and women are less likely as hosts to interrupt their women guests than their man guests, specifically men interrupt their women guests half as often as they interrupt men. However, this is not to say that they were showing their women guests more respect by interrupting less often, rather in these situations the man host controlled the conversation with the woman guest nonverbally.

Qualitative analysis of the accompanying videos show that when a man host is not interrupting a woman verbally he is still displaying physical behaviors that express disbelief or disinterest, which still disrupts the flow of conversation albeit less explicitly. Further, as guests, both men and women interrupt their hosts at very similar rates as well. However, in this situation, both men and women as guests interrupt women hosts more often than they do man hosts (twice as often). To analyze this particular facet of the study we first have to discuss our two big foci of power — man/woman and host/guest. It appears that the more salient dimension of power when it comes to producing significant differences in the rate of interruption is actually host/guest dynamics. As hosts, both men and women produce four times as many interruptions per minute in same gendered interactions.

From here we turn back to our original finding that men and women interrupt at similar rates. While as hosts men and women interrupt their man guests more often than they do their woman guests. As guests they interrupt their woman hosts at twice the rate they do their men hosts.  If this host guest dynamic is the most important consideration, this statistic suggests that as the guest and weaker in the dynamic both women and men consider a woman host to hold less power over the course of the debate than a man host as evidenced by their greater willingness to interrupt their host when she is a woman. These observations are preliminary and speculative however and would require much more rigorous control over the interactions including but not limited to: combing through a much greater amount of raw data, controlling for having the same person acting as both guest and host, and developing better accounting methods for nonverbal interruptions.

 

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