64
a. Simple Interruption
The nature of interruption which is typically distracting often leads the interrupted speakers to stop talking in mid-utterance after being interrupted, and in
consequence, the speakers usually cannot keep their turns because the interrupters take advantage of the opportunity to grab the floor. In fact, the similar situation is
also represented in most cases of interruption in High School Musical movie series, and therefore, it is unsurprising that simple interruption becomes the most
common type of interruption performed by the characters in the movie series. From 56 occurrences of interruptions in total, simple interruption occurs 41 times.
Simple interruption takes place when the speakers being interrupted leave their utterances unfinished in the middle of speaking while the interrupters attempt to
hold the floor. As the result, the speakers cannot complete their turns and the floor is transferred to the interrupters. The following dialogue presents one case of
simple interruption in the movie series. Peter
: So, Troy, I saw your championship game, I mean, wow That last second-shot at the buzzer, outstanding
Troy : Actually, my teammates here stole the ball. Otherwise I
wouldn’t have a
chance
–
Sharpay : Oh
, you’re much too modest, Troy.
25200:42:19-00:42:21 In the conversation above, simple interruption is noticed when Sharpay
breaks in the explanation of Troy and subsequently takes over the floor. Without waiting for Troy to finish his utterance, Sharpay directly passes her comment on
what Troy is saying. As a consequence, Troy is unable to fully deliver his idea because he stops speaking when his utterance is still incomplete. In that situation,
65
Troy gives up speaking after his utterance
…chance
- is said simultaneously with
Sharpay’s initial speech Oh…
. When the conversation occurs, Troy is having a dinner with
Sharpay’
s family and Peter, one member of the board of directors at the University of
Albuquerque. After watching Troy in the last basketball championship, Peter and Mr
Evans, Sharpay’s father who is
also on the board of directors, are interested to offer a basketball scholarship to Troy. In the conversation, Peter expresses his
admiration and praise for Troy who has brought his team to a victory with his amazing second-shot in the last minutes of the game. By pointing at Chad who is
serving food for him, Troy admits that his success is owing to the help of his teammates who have stolen the ball from the opponent. Yet, before finishing his
sentence, Troy is interrupted by Sharpay who apparently disagrees with his statement. Sharpay believes that Troy is much too modest about his ability and
achievement. In addition, another dialogue that also portrays the occurrence of simple
interruption is displayed as follows. Kelsi
: Well, it’s something I wrote for Tro
y and Gabriella, just in case
they decide to
–
Sharpay :
You’re
an employee, not a fairy godmother
Let’s
have it. 35201:01:51-01:01:54
Simple interruption takes place in the dialogue when Sharpay successfully obtains the floor after cutting
off Kelsi’s utterance in mid
-sentence. When Kelsi is saying
…to
- in the middle of a sentence, Sharpay concurrently starts speaking by saying
You’re
. Since
Sharpay’s
intrusion is so sudden, Kelsi cannot continue her
66
utterance and leaves it unfinished. In the end, Kelsi cannot convey a complete message whereas Sharpay is able to express what she intends to say.
The situation in the dialogue begins when Sharpay comes to the rehearsal room to meet Kelsi who is busy with her piano practice in preparation for the
upcoming talent show. At that time, Sharpay insists on having the duet that Kelsi has specially made for Troy and Gabriella. However, Kelsi refuses to hand over
the duet as she keeps holding it tightly in her hands. Kelsi is determined to give the duet only to Troy and Gabriella in case they end up participating in the talent
show.
Hearing Kelsi’s statement,
Sharpay cannot stand her anger any longer and
then interrupts Kelsi to display her opposition to Kelsi’s idea
. Sharpay says that an employee like Kelsi is not supposed to act like a fairy godmother that can freely
do what she wants to do. Unlike the previous instances, the interrupted speaker in the following
example ceases speaking right at the period the interrupter initiates hisher speech. Therefore, no simultaneous speech happens during the interruption.
Sharpay : Ah Most importantly, I need someone to run lines to me for those musical.
That’s a t
heatre term for
–
Tiara :
Learning your role. I understand.
473300:15:48-00:15:49 As seen in the dialogue, Tiara begins her speech when Sharpay is trying to
complete her sentence. At the point Sharpay utters
…That’s a theatre term for
-, Tiara instantly states Learning
your role…
that seems to appear as the completion
of Sharpay’s idea.
There is no simultaneous speech in the interruption since Sharpay directly abandons her incomplete sentence when Tiara commences
67
speaking. This situation represents the case of simple interruption in which Tiara as the interrupter succeeds to acquire the floor once she disrupts Sharpay, the
interrupted speaker, in the middle of speaking. The scene
which involves Sharpay and Tiara’s conversation above
occurs
in front of Sharpay’s locker wh
en Sharpay is preparing her school stuff. While looking at the mirror, Sharpay is surprised by the presence of an unfamiliar girl
behind her. Later on, the girl introduces herself as Tiara Gold, a new transfer student from East High in London. Tiara is int
erested to become Sharpay’s
personal assistant after she notices the opening for the job on the bulletin board. Sharpay then confirms that she needs an assistant to arrange her schedules, check
her assignments, and more importantly, run lines for the musical. Since Sharpay assumes that the term run lines is new to Tiara, she attempts to clarify the
meaning of it. Unfortunately, before Sharpay can finish explaining, Tiara jumps in concluding the explanation to display her familiarity with the term that Sharpay is
going to clarify.
b. Overlap Interruption
In High School Musical movie series, the occasion of overlap interruption is quite infrequent because the characters do not typically perform this type within
their conversations. Although the overlap type is placed second in terms of the quantity of occurrences with nine cases, its occurrence is still counted as small
compared to the simple type that happens 41 times. Overlap interruption occurs when the interrupters initiate their turns at almost the possible completion of the
current speakers’ speech.
At this time, the interrupters
and the current speakers’