Interruption as a Tool of Cooperation in Sudanese Women’s Casual Conversation

Abstract

This paper investigates the use and function of interruption in Sudanese women’s casual conversation. The main objective of the study was to uncover the way in which Sudanese used interruption in their casual conversation and examine the purpose for using it. Data was collected via recording of casual conversations among three groups of women in Sudan. The subjects were briefed about the purpose of recording and the use of the resulting data for research purposes, and their consent was taken before the recordings. A three-hour recording was made, out of which about forty minutes of the recorded data was used for analysis. Results showed that interruption was used by Sudanese women for a number of purposes, including gaining solo speakership, commenting on a current topic, sharing a similar experience, and eliciting talk. The analysis indicates that the participants accept interruption as a strategy of cooperation, leading to continuation of speech rather than cutting a speaker off or dominating the conversation flow. Results implicate that further investigation of Sudanese women discourse may uncover interesting ways and strategies women use to fulfill their communication demands in both casual and formal conversations.