PSY 369: Psycholinguistics

Conversation:Production and Comprehension as a

communicative dance

Conversational interaction“the horse raced past

the barn”

Conversation is more than just two side-by-side monologues.

“the kids swam across the river”

Conversational interaction“The horse raced past

the barn”

Conversation is a specialized form of social interaction, with rules and organization.

“Really? Why would it do that?”

Conversation Herb Clark (1996)

Joint action People acting in coordination with one another

doing the tango driving a car with a pedestrian crossing the street

The participants don’t always do similar things Autonomous actions

Things that you do by yourself Participatory actions

Individual acts only done as parts of joint actions

Conversation Herb Clark (1996)

Speaking and listening Traditionally treated as autonomous actions

Contributing to the tradition of studying language comprehension and production separately

Clark proposed that they should be treated as participatory actions

Conversation Herb Clark (1996)

Speaking and listening Component actions in production and comprehension

come in pairs

Speaking Listening A vocalizes sounds for B

A formalizes utterances for B

A means something for B

B attends to A’s vocalizations

B identifies A’s utterances

B understands A’s meaning

The actions of one participant depend on the actions of the other

Conversation Herb Clark (1996)

Face-to-face conversation - the basic setting Features

Co-presence Visibility Audibility

Instantaneity

Evanescence Recordlessness Simultaneity

Extemporaneity Self-determination Self-expression

Immediacy Medium Control

Other settings may lack some of these features e.g., telephone conversations take away co-presence and visibility,

which may change language use

Meaning and understanding ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you? COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den, and I'm thinking about buying a

computer. ABBOTT: Mac? COSTELLO: No, the name is Lou. ABBOTT: Your computer? COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one. ABBOTT: Mac? COSTELLO: I told you, my name is Lou. ABBOTT: What about Windows? COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here? ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with windows? COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look in the windows? ABBOTT: Wallpaper. COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software. ABBOTT: Software for windows? COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track

expenses and run my business. What have you got? ABBOTT: Office.

Meaning and understanding COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything? ABBOTT: I just did. COSTELLO: You just did what? ABBOTT: Recommend something. COSTELLO: You recommended something? ABBOTT: Yes. COSTELLO: For my office? ABBOTT: Yes. COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office? ABBOTT: Office. COSTELLO: Yes, for my office! ABBOTT: I recommend office with windows. COSTELLO: I already have an office and it has windows!OK, lets just say, I'm sitting at

my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need? ABBOTT: Word. COSTELLO: What word? ABBOTT: Word in Office. COSTELLO: The only word in office is office. ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

Meaning and understanding COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows? ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue "W.” COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some straight

answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet? ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One. COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your

business. Just tell me what I need! ABBOTT: Real One. COSTELLO: If it ﾕ s a long movie I also want to see reel 2, 3 and 4. Can I watch them? ABBOTT: Of course. COSTELLO: Great, with what? ABBOTT: Real One. COSTELLO; OK, I'm at my computer and I want to watch a movie.What do I do? ABBOTT: You click the blue "1.” COSTELLO: I click the blue one what? ABBOTT: The blue "1.” COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue "W"? ABBOTT: The blue 1 is Real One and the blue W is Word. COSTELLO: What word?

Meaning and understanding ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows. COSTELLO: But there are three words in "office for windows"! ABBOTT: No, just one. But it ﾕ s the most popular Word in the world. COSTELLO: It is? ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren't many other Words left. It pretty much wiped

out all the other Words. COSTELLO: And that word is real one? ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn't even Part of Office. COSTELLO: Stop! Don't start that again. What about financial bookkeeping you have

anything I can track my money with? ABBOTT: Money. COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have? ABBOTT: Money. COSTELLO: I need money to track my money? ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer. COSTELLO: What's bundled to my computer? ABBOTT: Money.

Meaning and understanding COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer? ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge. COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much? ABBOTT: One copy. COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money? ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy money. COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money? ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(LATER) COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?? ABBOTT: Click on "START".

Meaning and understanding Common ground

Knowledge, beliefs and suppositions that the participants believe that they share

Members of cultural communities Shared experiences What has taken place already in the conversation

Common ground is necessary to coordinate speaker’s meaning with listener’s understanding

Conversations are purposive and unplanned Typically you can’t plan exactly what you’re going to

say because it depends on another participant Conversations look planned only in retrospect

Conversations have a fairly stable structure

Structure of a conversation

Joe: (places a phone call) Kevin: Miss Pink’s office - hello Joe: hello, is Miss Pink in Kevin: well, she’s in, but she’s

engaged at the moment, who is it? Joe: Oh it’s Professors Worth’s

secretary, from Pan-American college Kevin: m, Joe: Could you give her a message

“for me” Kevin: “certainly” Joe: u’m Professor Worth said that, if

Miss Pink runs into difficulties, .. On Monday afternoon, .. With the standing subcommittee, .. Over the item on Miss Panoff, …

Structure of a conversation Kevin: Miss Panoff? Joe: Yes, that Professor Worth would

be with Mr Miles all afternoon, .. So she only had to go round and collect him if she needed him, …

Kevin: ah, … thank you very much indeed,

Joe: right Kevin: Panoff, right “you” are Joe: right Kevin: I’ll tell her, Joe: thank you Kevin: bye bye Joe: bye

Structure of a conversation Action sequences: smaller joint projects to fulfill a goal

Adjacency pairs Opening the conversation

Kevin: Miss Pink’s office - hello Joe: hello, ..

Exchanging information about Pink Joe:.., is Miss Pink in Kevin: well, she’s in, but she’s engaged at the moment…

Structure of a conversation Action sequences: smaller joint projects to fulfill a goal

Adjacency pairs Exchanging the message from Worth

Joe: u’m Professor Worth said that, if Miss Pink runs into difficulties, .. On Monday afternoon, .. With the standing subcommittee, .. Over the item on Miss Panoff, …

Closing the conversation Kevin: I’ll tell her, Joe: thank you Kevin: bye bye Joe: bye

Opening conversations Need to pick who starts

Turn taking is typically not decided upon in advance Potentially a lot of ways to open, but we typically

restrict our openings to a few ways Address another Request information Offer information Use a stereotyped expression or topic

Opening conversations Has to resolve:

The entry time Is now the time to converse?

The participants Who is talking to whom?

Their roles What is level of participation in the conversation?

The official business What is the conversation about?

EavesdropperAll listeners

Identifying participants Conversation often takes place in situations that

involve various types of participants and non-participants

Bystander

Side

participantsAll participants

Speaker Addressee

Taking turns Typically conversations don’t involve two (or

more) people talking at the same time

Individual styles of turn-taking vary widely Length of a turn is a fairly stable

characteristic within a given individual’s conversational interactions

Standard signals indicate a change in turn: a head nod, a glance, a questioning tone

Taking turns Typically conversations don’t involve two (or

more) people talking at the same time Three implicit rules (Sacks et al, 1974)

Rule 1: Current speakers selects next speaker Rule 2: Self-selection: if rule 1 isn’t used, then next speaker

can select themselves Rule 3: current speaker may continue (or not)

These principles are ordered in terms of priority The first is the most important, and the last is the least important

Just try violating them in an actual conversation (but debrief later!)

Taking turns Typically conversations don’t involve two (or

more) people talking at the same time Use of non-verbal cues

Drop of pitch Drawl on final syllable Termination of hand signals Drop in loudness Completion of a grammatical clause Use of stereotyped phrase

“you know”

Negotiating topics Keep the discourse relevant to the topic

(remember Grice’s maxims) Coherence again

Earlier we looked at coherence within a speaker, now we consider it across multiple speakers

Must use statements to signal topic shifts

Closing conversations Closing statements

Must exit from the last topic, mutually agree to close the conversation, and coordinate the disengagement

signal the end of conversation (or topic) “okay”

Justifying why conversation should end “I gotta go”

Reference to potential future conversation “later dude”

Summary “People use language for doing things with each

other, and their use of language is itself a joint action.” Clark (1996, pg387) Conversation is structured

But, that structure depends on more than one individual Models of language use (production and

comprehension) need to be developed within this perspective