Turn-Taking Strategy and Style-Shift in Japanese Women

• This article examines gender differences and style-shifting of women in turn-taking (TT) strategies during Japanese conversations; such strategies appear when there is a new shift in conversation. Specifically, the article explores the gender difference in TT strategies and whether a woman’s TT strategy changes in accordance with the interlocutor’s gender. This article suggests that women have varying conversational styles that are rather similar to those of men. The following tendencies were observed in the TT strategies of men and women. First, in the TT strategies adopted toward male interlocutors, females exhibited supportive tendencies, such as involving men in the conversation or actively responding to them. Second, the TT strategies adopted by males toward female interlocutors revealed negative elements such as the use of blunt responsive markers or first person pronouns. Third, in the TT strategies adopted toward female interlocutors, females displayed relatively negative tendencies, using blunt or simple TT strategies in comparison to those seen in the conversations between males and females. The article then discusses the implications of these findings as women do not innately possess supportive conversational styles and simply converse in accordance with their gender role. In particular, the discussion focuses on the possibility that the socialization of women also compels them to follow linguistic socialization, which reflects a woman’s customary role to engage in assistant work.

Nyckelord

turn-taking strategy

discourse marker

interjection

style-shift

women’s role

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)