The conversation above shows that A ’s utterance is incomplete. However,
there is no simultaneous speech during the conversation. In this case, the second speaker attempts to grab the floor because the first speaker stops his or her utterances.
c. Functions of Interruption
According to Murata in Li, 2001: 269-270 there are two basic functions of interruption. Those are cooperative and intrusive interruption. A further explanation
about those two types is presented below.
1 Intrusive Interruption
In this category, interruption functions as a disruptive act in which violation of a speaker’s turn in talking occurs. In addition, this act also refers to sign of threats
by disrupting other’s turn when the current speaker is still talking. This intrusive act has three subcategories that are proposed by Murata in Li, 2001: 269-270 and
another one borrowed from Kennedy and Camden in Li, 2001: 269. Those subcategories are disagreement, floor taking, topic change, and tangentialization.
a Disagreement
Disagreement occurs when an interrupter disagrees with the interruptee’s
statement and wants to express her or his own utterance immediately. Here is an example of disagreement.
A : It’s not worth saying in the first place.
M :
But don’t you think he would feel better if she told him.
Beaumont, 2001: 431
In the example above, A becomes the first speaker and M is the second speaker. In the conversation above, M interrupts A
because M disagrees with A’s opinion. In that example, M expresses that he wants to hold his or her opinion instead
of accepting anothe r speaker’s opinion.
b Floor taking
In this subcategory of intrusive interruption, the interrupter tries to take the interruptee’s place and time in talking in order to voice his or her own opinion. In
floor taking, the interrupter does not change the current topic of discussion and only want to voice his or her opinion toward the topic. In this function, the interrupter
usually develops the current topic of discussion by performing and interruption. An example of this subcategory is shown as follows.
MT : ... People forgetthat he was one of the best ministers of socialservices this country’s ever had and he
DT : but that’s one kind of public
spending. Beattie, 1982: 101
In the example above, MT and DT discuss about a former minister of social. MT argues that the minister was the best one among the former ministers of social.
However, DT cut MT’s turn of speaking before MT finishes the utterance. DT argues
that the minister was one kind of public spending. On that conversation, it is shown that DT wants to voice his opinion without changing the current topic of discussion.
c Topic change
In this function, the interrupter is more aggressive in taking the turn of the interruptee. For that reason, the interrupter shows his or her opinion by changing the
topic of discussion. An example is seen below. H: I think that
W: Do you want some more salad?
Tannen, 1994: 59 In that example, H appears as the interruptee and W is the interrupter. H is
interrupted by W before he completes the statement. In that conversation, H wants to say something, however before completing the utterance, W interrupts H’s turn of
speaking. In the conversation, W immediately changes the topic of discussion by offering some salad to H. The changing of topic occurs because W has an urge to
offer the salad before H completes his turn.
d Tangentialization
In this subcategory, the interrupter immediately tries to stop the previous speaker from talking in the middle of conversation. In this case, the interrupter does
not want to hear another spea ker’s opinion and prevent it by providing his or her own
utterances. An example of this subcategory is presented below. M:
I guess you’re right, but what I said is true too. A:
So I win. I win I win. I win. Beaumont et al, 2001: 431
In the example above, M tries to emphasize his opinion. However, A suddenly cuts M’s floor and says “ So I win. I win I win. I win”. It indicates that A
does not want to hear M’s opinion and want to immediately finish the discussiong by performing such utterance.
2 Cooperative Interruption
Besides functioning as a disruptive act, interruption also functions as a cooperative act. In this function, interruption is used to show agreement or support to
other speaker’s opinion. Related to this, Murata, Kennedy and Camden in Li, 2001: 269 propose three subcategories of this function. Those are agreement, assistance,
and clarification.
a Agreement
Agreement occurs when a speaker interrupts other speaker’s utterance in order to show concurrence, compliance, understanding or support. It means the
interrupter has the same opinion as the interruptee. To make this function clear, one example is shown as follow.
Peg : The part I didn’t like was putting everybody’s snow pants and
boots and Marge : Oh yeah That was the worst part
Tannen, 1994: 70 In the example above, Peg is interrupted by Merge in the middle of
discussion. The function of Marge’s interruption is to support Peg’s statement.
b Assistance
Assistance occurs when the interrupter provides word, phrase or sentence which helps the interruptee to utter his or her idea. The example of this subcategory
is shown below.
