PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Production & Comprehension: Conversation

Failed conversation 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.

Failed conversation 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.

Failed conversation 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 is 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?

Failed conversation ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows. COSTELLO: But there are three words in "office for windows"! ABBOTT: No, just one. But it is 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.

Failed conversation 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".

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 Fillmore (1981) “The language of face-to-face conversation is the basic and primary use of language” (pg. 152) So all instances of language usage can (should) be compared to conversation What is the impact of the presence or absence of different features of face-to-face conversation?

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

Conversation Herb Clark (1996) Joint action Autonomous actions Things that you do by yourself Participatory actions Individual acts only done as parts of joint actions 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

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 (coordinated actions) For each action in speaking there is one in listening SpeakingListening 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) Arena’s of language use - places where people do things with language Meaning and understanding Establishing Common Ground Identifying participants Layers Conversation is structured

Meaning and understanding Common ground Common ground is necessary to coordinate speaker’s meaning with listener’s understanding 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 Lack of successful communication was due to lack of common ground

EavesdropperAll listeners Identifying participants Conversation often takes place in situations that involve various types of participants and non- participants Bystander Side participants All participants Speaker Addressee

EavesdropperAll listeners Identifying participants Bystander Side participants All participants Speaker Addressee Humor come in part because we (eavesdroppers) share common ground that Lou and Bud didn’t)

Layers Conversations may have several layers Layer 1 The primary conversation Layer 2 A commentary about Layer 1 Each layer needs to be coherent (within the layer) as well as be connected to other layers in a relevant way Layer 2: “I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some straight answers. OK, forget that.”

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 Opening the conversation Identifying participants Taking turns Negotiating topics Closing conversations

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

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 Opening the 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 Exchanging information

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 Exchanging a message

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 Closing the conversation

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? Need to pick who starts Turn taking is typically not decided upon in advance Potentially a lot of ways to open

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 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!) 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)

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”

Dialog is the key Why so little research on dialog? Most linguistic theories were developed to account for sentences in de-contextualized isolation Dialog doesn’t fit the competence/performance distinction well Hard to do experimentally Conversations are interactive and largely unplanned Pickering and Garrod (2004) Proposed that processing theories of language comprehension and production may be flawed because of a focus on monologues

Processing models of dialog Pickering and Garrod (2004) Interactive alignment model Alignment of situation models is central to successful dialogue Alignment at other levels is achieved via priming Alignment at one level can lead to alignment at another Model assumes parity of representations for production and comprehension

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