A pilot experiment aimed at discovering sex-specific language patterns as exhibited by males and females in conversation with same-sex and other-sex partners falsified the hypothesis frequently stated in the literature that males hold the dominant role in mixed-sex verbal interaction, at least in regard to college students. Twelve dyadic conversations (3 M/M, 3 F/F, 6 F/M) of the duration of fifteen minutes each were tape-recorded. The analysis of the transcripts based on positive and negative factors of dominance showed that among white undergraduate college students, men and women adopt different personality styles when there is disagreement on the topic of conversation. In addition, men feel more readily at ease with a same-sex stranger than do women. Differences in male and female communicative behavior thus do exist but they are not in the interactional area of dominance. References and data are appended. (Author/NCR)