Speaker
Prof. Martin Pickering
University of Edinburgh
Martin Pickering is Professor of the Psychology of Language andCommunication at the University of Edinburgh. He has published over 200journal articles in language production, language comprehension,dialogue, and bilingualism, including three in Behavioral and BrainSciences, together with a book, Understanding Dialogue (with SimonGarrod). He is the former editor of Journal of Memory and Language andis a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Event Details
In Pickering and Garrod (2021), we proposed that interlocutors insynchronous dialogue align their linguistic representations and situationmodels. In addition, they use feedback to determine whether they believethey are aligned or not (meta-representations of alignment). In this talk, weextend the account of alignment and its meta-representation to othermodes of communication. The other dominant mode is asynchronousmonologue, in which authors compose a written or spoken text in isolationfrom their audience and then make a final version available (bypublication). Alignment between author and audience is mediated by theform and meaning of the text and takes place when it is interpreted. Theaudience comes to believe that they are aligned with the author as aconsequence of “close reading” of the text, which they use in lieu offeedback, and the author uses audience design to meta-representpotential alignment. We then consider hybrid modes, in particularasynchronous dialogue (letters, emails, SMS, half-duplex “walkie talkies”),in which the respondent cannot provide simultaneous feedback. Thus,meta-representation of alignment occurs intermittently, only after therespondent takes over. We argue that synchronous dialogue allowsinterlocutors to directly perceive alignment, whereas asynchronousdialogue and monologue require inferences by both the author and theaudience, and interpret psycholinguistic findings (such as referentialcommunication games) in terms of this contrast.
This talk represents joint work with Simon Garrod (Glasgow)
Enquires
lin@cuhk.edu.hk
