Gossip is a common oral activity which occurs all the time. Gossip here is defined as unverified, transmitted, and usually negative news about the absent others’ privacy or secrets. I research on three main themes of gossip, including the targets, the topics, and the functions, to see how differently men and women gossip. The results show that men and women gossip differently with their friends according to the three levels of familiarity (+Familiarity, = Familiarity, and – Familiarity).
1) In the theme of gossip targets, no significant gender difference is observed. They gossip mostly about ‘close friends’, ‘entertainers’, and ‘popular personages’. As the familiarity decreases, people tend to gossip about ‘unacquainted friends’ or public figures, like ‘entertainers’.
2) About the topics of gossip, men and women gossip about significantly different topics with their familiar friends and unfamiliar female friends. People prefer to gossip about ‘relationship’ with their familiar friends. With their casual friends, no significant gender difference is perceived. With their unfamiliar friends, ‘work’ becomes their first option.
3) In the theme of functions, significant gender differences are observed when people gossip with their unfamiliar friends. ‘Curiosity, to kill time, or for fun’ plays an important role in gossip whether people are familiar with each other or not. Only when women gossip with their unfamiliar friends, they gossip more for ‘express personal opinions or attitudes, keep boundary’ than ‘bonding’.
4) People incline to gossip about the similar others with their familiar friends.
5) ‘Relationship’ is the main topics of gossip, especially between women. As the familiarity decreases, they tend to hide their love affairs.
6) ‘Complaining or releasing emotions’ is one of the main functions for women only when they gossip with familiar friends.
Both men and women gossip, but they care about different issues. They take different strategies when they gossip with people of different sex and familiarity.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT I
中 文 摘 要 III
謝 辭…………………………………………………………………………………IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS V
LIST OF TABLES VII
LIST OF CHARTS VIII

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Rationale and Delimitation of the Research 1
1.2 Motivation of the Research 6
1.3 Objective of the Research 6
1.4 Overview of the Chapters 6
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 8
2.1 Origin and Definitions of Gossip 8
2.2 Rumor and Gossip 10
2.3 The Motivations of Gossip 14
2.4 The Topics and Functions 28
2.5 Gender Differences 40
2.5.1 Gender differences in language 40
2.5.2 Deborah Jones & Jennifer Coates 41
2.5.3 Deborah Tannen 43
2.5.4 Michelson and Mouly 45
2.5.5 Mizokami 46
CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 47
3.1 Definition 47
3.2 Topics 49
3.3 Functions 61
3.4 Interviews to seek for explanations 65
3.5 Theoretical Framework 68
3.6 Hypotheses 70
CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY 72
3.1 Subjects 72
3.2 Materials 72
3.3 The Design of Questionnaire 73
3.4 Procedure 75
3.5 Data Analysis 76
CHAPTER FIVE: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 77
5.1 Overall Description 77
5.1.1 The most potential targets 78
5.1.2 The most potential topics 84
5.1.3 The most potential functions serve for gossiping 90
5.2 The Findings 98
5.2.1 The First Finding 98
5.2.1.1 (+Familiarity) 98
5.2.1.2 (= Familiarity) 100
5.2.1.3 (– Familiarity) 101
5.2.2 The Second Finding 103
5.2.2.1 (+Familiarity) 103
5.2.2.2 (= Familiarity) 105
5.2.2.3 (– Familiarity) 105
5.2.3 The Third Finding 107
5.2.3.1 (+Familiarity) 107
5.2.3.2 (= Familiarity) 109
5.2.3.3 (– Familiarity) 109
5.2.4 The Fourth Finding 111
5.2.5 The Fifth Finding 112
5.2.6 The Sixth Finding 114
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 116
6.1 Summary 116
6.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies 120

REFERENCES 121
Appendix A1 126
Appendix A2 127
Appendix B 128
Appendix C1 135
Appendix C2 139
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