A corpus-based, quantitative study was conducted to examine gender differences in conversational interaction in the Chinese language. The corpus is 10.5 hours of Mandarin live radio talk and phone-in shows recorded off the World Wide Web. Four discourse variables were analyzed: amount of speech, turn-taking and floors, interruption (dominant vs. supportive), and functions of utterances (assertive vs. supportive).
Statistically significant differences are found in the overall distribution patterns by gender as follows: males do a greater share of talking than females, take longer turns, hold the floor for longer periods of time, and interrupt more, with interruptions more likely dominant than supportive. The speech of males shows more features of assertiveness and dominance, while that of females is more featured by supportiveness and cooperation.
Gender differences on the discourse level are further examined in terms of topic of conversation. Men are found to participate more than women in the discussions of politics, economy, health, love and marriage, and nature. They talk more on these topics, take longer turns, hold the floor for longer periods of time, make more dominant interruptions, and produce more utterances with assertive functions. Women show more features of conversational supportiveness in most situations. The topic dealing with family and education is the only situation that initiates more assertiveness from the female speakers.
The ratio of male to female participants is another factor that has an effect on the language behavior of men and women. The study shows that men tend to become more competitive and to demonstrate more features of conversational assertiveness when there are more male participants present in cross-sex interactions. Women are pushed to an essentially listening role when men seem to be competing for the talking time or the floor. This study contributes new research in language-gender interaction in Chinese.