Language and Social Interaction

social view of language

joint cooperative process affected by social status, informational states, attributions and perceptions of individuals, cultural identity, and current situation

Grice’s maxims

conversation is cooperative joint action and we follow maxims to ensure were understood

quality- truth

quantity- good informative level

relevance- relate to purpose of convo

manner- orderly, brief, avoid ambiguity

violating maxims

to give the appearance of cooperating, maxims are violated in a way thats obvious to the listener

audience design

must consider what listeners know at a point in time:

show difference between new and old info

adapt info to people- descriptions get shorter over time

depends on context

amnesia audience design

ppl with amnesia can shorten descriptions over time but not person specific as couldnt remember who

=requires declarative memory

turn taking Sacks et al 1974

most transitions happen fast 200ms

japan slightly faster danish slightly slower but no is always longer than yes

delay on video call disrupts ability to predict end of turn leading to long silences

what makes conversation easy Garrod and Pickering

we dont constantly mind read other, we automatically reuse their words syntax and accents= implicit common ground= no need to infer state of mind

routinisation

constantly moving towards similarity at all levels= more efficient processing

underlying mechanism of social language Pickering and Garrod

forward modelling- we use prediction to comprehend what another person is saying

e.g. completing each others sentences

sauce bottle analogy Wolpert and Flanagan 2001

when you hit bottom of sauce bottle brain sends signal to your hitting hand and efferent copy to gripping hand so can tighten grip

when someone else hits bottle theres no efferent copy= grip reacts after impact

=prediction allows us to cancel delays in ns for smooth actions

=self monitoring language production and other monitoring others speech