Interruption

An interruption in conversation happens when a listener breaks in, to interject, while a speaker is speaking. As a result of the listener's interjection, the speaker stops talking and the listener becomes a speaker.

Have you ever been interrupted? When someone interrupts, the listener forces the speaker to give up their role as speaker and become a listener.

Cooperative interruption vs competitive interruption

An interruption can be either cooperative or competitive. What's the difference between the two?

Cooperative interruption

Cooperative interruption happens when the listener feels the need to support or add to the speaker's point while managing not to disrupt the speaker's turn. In this case, the listener becomes a speaker for a short time through helpful remarks or quick questions.

Maya (the listener) interrupts Evelyn (the speaker) in order to support Evelyn's claim. This is an example of cooperative interruption because after Maya's interruption, Evelyn can continue talking about the same topic, with the new information that Maya has added to it.

Competitive interruption

Competitive interruption happens when the listener forcefully interjects and intends to continue talking. It's a conversation take-over.

In most conversations, the participants want to share something that is emotionally important to them. On other occasions, a listener feels an urgency to immediately learn a new piece of information from the speaker. Sometimes they can't wait until it is their turn to speak before they start talking about what is important to them. This results in an interruption that shows disregard for the speaker's turn, and disrupts the conversation.

Maya (the speaker) is talking about an issue. Evelyn (the listener) doesn't let Maya finish her turn because she feels the urgent need to share a similar issue she has had. What Evelyn wants to share is emotionally significant to her, which prompts her to disregard Maya's conversational turn, and to disrupt the flow of the conversation by causing a competitive interruption.

Fig. 1 - Interruptions often occur during heated discussions.

What are the three types of interruption?

There are three types of interruption in conversation - relationally neutral interruption, power interruption and rapport interruption.

Relationally neutral interruption and rapport interruption are cooperative, whilst power interruption is competitive:

Let's take a closer look.

Relationally neutral interruption

A relationally neutral interruption is caused by the listener's need to correct, repeat or further explain something that the speaker has mentioned. This type of interruption is cooperative because what the listener has to say is connected to the speaker's turn, and the listener's intention is not to take over from the speaker.

Maya (the listener) interrupts Evelyn (the speaker) in an attempt to correct inaccurate information. Evelyn is then free to continue with her story.

In relationally neutral interruptions the listener neither aims to build rapport with the speaker, nor to compete with the speaker, therefore these kinds of interruptions are neutral.

Power interruption

A power interruption occurs when the listener cuts off the speaker in an attempt to exert some sort of power over them. This type of interruption is competitive - it is an act of competition and confrontation on the listener's part that disrespects the speaker's turn.

Power interruptions are generally considered impolite, even rude. On some occasions, power interruptions can be quite hostile and can lead to conflict between conversation partners. When a listener forcefully takes the turn as speaker, they are saying that they don't respect the speaker's role in the conversation any longer. A power interruption is the most disruptive kind of interruption.

Here, Maya (the listener) not only interrupts Evelyn (the speaker) but she doesn't add anything to what Evelyn was saying. Maya takes over as a speaker and changes the topic of conversation (from dolphins to whales); in this way, she disrupts the turn-taking sequence and dominates the conversation.

Report interruption

A report interruption conveys mutual agreement and understanding. This type of interruption is cooperative - when the listener interrupts the speaker it is to show that they agree with what the speaker is saying.

Rapport interruptions establish rapport between the listener and the speaker because they rely on a display of collaboration and reciprocity.

Maya (the speaker) is talking about an issue she is dealing with. Evelyn (the listener) interrupts to show empathy. The rapport interruption doesn't disrupt the flow of the conversation because both participants stick to the original topic.

What are some reasons for interruptions?

Considering that interruption is not always negative and competitive but can often be cooperative, there are a number of valid reasons to interrupt. This includes the following:

1. To give information

Sometimes a listener may need to contribute by giving additional information that the speaker has missed. In order to do this effectively and in a polite manner, a listener uses sentences and phrases like:

1. To ask a quick question

On some occasions, the need to pause the conversation arises from the listener needing some clarification or an explanation about something the speaker has said. In this case, the listener may interrupt the speaker to ask them a question:

3. To share an opinion

Sometimes the listener feels the need to share their opinion or to mention something related to what the speaker is saying. If what the listener wants to say contributes to the conversational turn of the speaker, this is a cooperative interruption that doesn't disrupt the flow of communication. Sharing an opinion can be done by using these phrases:

4. To join a conversation

In a situation where two or more people are already having a conversation and another person wants to join them, the new participant has to politely interject in order to establish themselves. They can do that by saying something like:

Overlap vs. Interruption

Interruption and overlap are two types of disruption. However, there is a distinct difference between them.

Unlike interruption, overlap is when a listener interrupts the speaker but the speaker doesn't stop talking, which results in two speakers speaking over each other. Interruption is when the listener forces a speaker to give up their role as speaker and become a listener; overlap is when there are two speakers (and sometimes no listeners) speaking at the same time.