ABSTRACT

Joan Swann 1. Women and men talking The stereotype of the over-talkative woman stands out in stark contrast to' most research studies of interactions between women and men, which argue that, by and large, it is men who tend to dominate the talk. For instance, men have been found to use more interruptions (Zimmerman & West 1975; Eakins & Eakins 1976; West & Zimmerman 1983; West 1984) and simply to talk more than women (e.g. Soskin & John 1963; Bernard 1972; Swacker 1975; Eakins & Eakins 1976). In mixed-sex conversations it has been found that men's topics are more often pursued, while women play a 'supportive' role (Fishman 1978, 1983; see also Hirschman 1974; and Leet-Pellegrini 1980). The picture is not universally one-sided: Beattie (1981), in a study of university tutorials, found that women students interrupted as often as men and Edelsky (1981), looking at university committee meetings, found that women could hold their own in informally organised, 'collaboratively developed', talk, though not in the more formal 'one-person-at-a-time' talk that tends to be prevalent in meetings. In most contexts, however, the evidence remains that men tend to be the dominant parties in mixed-sex conversations and discussions.