Sample Data

SAMPLE DATA

Stage 1:  In my sample data I expect to find the male participants being the powerful participants, leaving the female the less powerful participant. This is mainly because one of the males is in charge of the conversation, so I expect male dominance to occur. Although I expect to see the use of uncertainty features from both the less powerful male and female participants, I expect to see more used by the female, as she is the single female and may be less confident, therefore uses more uncertainty features in the female’s speech. I also expect to find the males to interrupt the female more often, supporting Zimmerman and West’s theory.

Stage 2: From analysing my sample data, I have found support for my hypothesis that the male participants are the more dominant figures throughout the conversation, whilst the female takes a backseat. Evidence to prove this is that the conversation is mainly between the males, with the female having little input. Also found from my analysis, is that the female seems to be more uncertain in speech than the males. Evidence to support the hypothesis I retrospectively mentioned, is shown below:

“F: I think in this whole competition (1) if you sit back and remain quiet and under the radar (1) people assume that they’re safe (1) and I’ve been bold (.) and…”

With numerous pauses in just a short sentence, the female seems uncertain of what to say, whether she cannot think or is worried she will say something wrong. With the male participants, they tend to talk simultaneously, battling for power. This leads on to proving my third hypothesis, that men tend to interrupt more than women. As just mentioned, both males interrupt each other in the battle for power, whereas the female seems scared to interrupt them; this may possibly be because she is outnumbered.