objectives in using language. Men, in this case, want to show their power by using a direct command while women use tag question to show politeness.
f. Initiation of conversation
In conversation, the dominant is usually the one who initiates or raises the topic. James and Clarke 1993: 232 support this statement by stating that controlling
a turn and a topic of conversation shows domination and power. In addition, Poynton 1989: 89 claims that women try to initiate a conversation more often than men do.
However, women succeed less in initiating conversations because of lack of men cooperation.
5. Interruption
a. Definition of Interruption
In a conversation, the smooth exchange of turn of speaking between the speakers becomes an important indication of a successful interaction. It means that
the participants play a role as a speaker or a listener in the right time. However, sometimes a speaker attempts to disrupt the other’s turn and this occurrence is
regarded as interruption. Interruption is defined as the act of speaking where one person appears to talk
while another person is already talking James and Clarke, 1993: 232. Similarly, Zimmerman and West 1975: 117 argue that interruption is a violation which occurs
in the speaker’s turn. Therefore, in this case interruption is categorized as a deviation of turn-taking system where only one person should speak at a time.
Interruption occurs when a person has an urge to express his or her thought before beginning to respond. Pearson 1985: 197 state that the reason a person
employs interruption is because he or she feels enthusiastic about something they have to share and impatient about waiting their turn. It happens because a person
believes that his or her thought is more important than others. Interruption is commonly found in men’s speech rather than women’s.
Holmes in James and Clarke, 1993: 231 states that men interrupt others more often than women do, and men interrupt women more than in reverse. However, some
recent studies suggest that men and women have the same opportunity in using interruption within their speech. James and Clarke 1993: 233 argue that women and
men are same in using simultaneous talk to show involvement and rapport. It means that interruption is not only used as showing gender difference, but also showing the
social status of an individual. The occurrence of interruption, according to Zimmerman and West 1975:
116 is rarely found in same-sex conversations and frequently found in mixed-sex conversations. Their study shows that only 7 interruptions occur in same-sex
conversations and 48 interruptions occur in mixed-sex conversations. This result is supported by Xu 2009: 28 who also finds that interruptions are more commonly
found in mixed-sex than in same-sex conversations. Interruption is regarded as an attempt to show dominance and power since it
is related to an act of violation in turn-taking rules. This statement is supported by Zimmerman and West 1983: 103 and James and Clarke 1993: 23 who similarly
conclude that interruption functions as a device of showing power, control and
dominance in conversation. In line with this, Xu 2009: 10 explains that dominance is shown when a powerful participant tends to control and to constrain a non-
powerful participant’s speech by interrupting and taking the turn. This act, according to Eakins and Eakins in Xu, 2009: 10, is related to social status where higher status
speakers interrupt more often than lower speakers. In contrast, Greenwood in Tannen, 1994: 60 states that a high rate of
interruptions in a conversation is a sign of social comfort in preadolescent boys and girls with their friends. Beattie 1982: 97 also suggests that interruption is not only
as an act to show domination, but also as an indication of social relationships. Xioquan and Walter 2003: 350 also provide some recent data where interruptions
are also used to show support, rapport and solidarity in actual conversations. In showing the occurrence of interruption, Sacks and Schegloff in Beattie,
1982: 103 classify the symbols that are used as transcription of interruption in a conversation. Those symbols are explained as follows.
: indicates a pause ≥ 200 msec
{ : the brace indicates interruptions and the italic
word indicates simultaneous speech To sum up, interruption occurs when a speaker takes a turn of a current
speaker’s right to speak. This act can be regarded as a negative or positive act. It means interruption is used either as a violation or a support to other speaker’s
statement in a conversation. In addition, the existence of interruption occurs more often among men and women in mixed-sex conversations rather than in same-sex
conversations. For that reason, this research is conducted to reveal the types and functions of interruption in mixed-sex conversations.
b. Types of Interruption
