Gender And Power In The Use Of Interruptions Among The Luhya Of Kenya

Language determines the way we view the world around us, how we categorize and stratify ourselves in the society is a result of the kind of mindset that our culture has inculcated in us. Language is the medium of our culture; the stereotypes and prejudices that bedevil our culture are transmitted and repeatedly reinforced through language. Patriarchy characterizes most African and western societies and its focal point is a belief that condones male supremacy and dominance over women therefore perpetuating gender inequalities that exclude women from key decision making processes. It is not clear however; whether men are actually superior to women. The main objective in this study is to establish how notions of power and powerlessness are manifest in the use of interruptions from a call-in show corpus among the Luhya of western Kenya. A mixed method approach is used to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative discourse data. The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is used focusing on communicative features that play a role in the production of dominance by one group over another. It views language as a form of social practice that focuses on the ways social and political domination are reproduced by text and talk. The current study reveals that in as much as there are differences in the speech in the use of interruptions, other factors including age, status, and economic prowess other than gender can determine the way one speaks in general conversation. The findings reveal that men are dominance oriented, more assertive and competitive in their speech while women were found supportive and cooperative but this is dependent on the context. It is recommended that future studies in language and gender must take into account the variety of contexts and other external factors. More studies need to be done in different contexts to examine gender behaviour on the discourse level.