CONVERSATIONAL PATTERNS OF SINGLE-SEX AND MIXED-SEX GROUPS IN THE SINGAPORE CONTEXT

Abstract

For this research, the "naturally occurring" conversations of one mixed-sex group, one all-men group and one all-women group recorded in informal home settings, were studied. This dissertation has two main aims. Firstly, it attempts to ascertain if there are differences in conversational patterns between Singaporean men and women in single-sex groups. Secondly, it seeks to ascertain if male dominance exists in mixed-sex conversations in the Singaporean context. Four aspects of conversation were studied: topics of talk, amount of talk, topic control and interruptions. Topic control was studied with reference to topic initiation, development and change. The study on topics of talk reveals that the men in their single-sex group had focused their talk on impersonal topics. On the other hand, the women in their group had concentrated on personal topics. There is, however, no conclusive evidence of male or female dominance in the mixed-sex interaction. The findings show that the women dominated the conversation in terms of the greater number of personal topics that were discussed, whereas the men dominated the conversation in terms of the greater amount of time that was spent talking on impersonal topics. The findings on amount of talk show that in the single-sex groups, both sexes had uneven distribution of amount of talk. Thus, there were no differences in the amount of talk between the two sexes. However, in the mixed-sex group, the analysis on the distribution of talk shows that the male speakers had the greater amount of talk. This, therefore, implies male dominance. The findings on topic initiations, developments and changes show that topic control in both single-sex groups was asymmetrically distributed. However, the two groups were found to differ in their "style" of talk. The women were more cooperative speakers in that they made less attempts at changing topics, preferring to allow the individual speakers in the group to develop their topics of talk. The men, on the other hand, had more topic initiations and changes which reflect the males as being more competitive in making individual assertions their priority. In the mixed-sex group, the frequency of topic initiations, developments and changes, and the percentage of successful attempts, clearly indicate male dominance in all three aspects of topic control. Sex differences between the two single-sex groups were evident in the way interruptions were distributed between speakers. In the men's group, the interruptions were clearly unevenly distributed. In the women's group, interruptions were less unevenly- distributed. In the mixed-sex group, the men were marginally more dominant than the women in successful interruptions. In conclusion, this study has shown that Singaporean men and women in their single-sex groups differ in topics of talk, style of talk and interruptions, but not in the amount of talk. The women prefer personal topics, and they are more cooperative speakers for they interrupt less and give more allowance for topic developments. On the other hand, the men prefer impersonal topics, and they are more competitive speakers for they make more interruptions and topic changes. The study on amount of talk, topic control and interruptions shows that male dominance exists in mixed-sex interactions in the Singapore context. The study reveals that the males in the mixed-sex group talked more, exercised greater topic control and made marginally more interruptions than their female counterparts.