Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK
2. Department of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 9YR, UK
Abstract
In dialogue, speakers process a great deal of information, take and give the floor to each other, and plan and adjust their contributions on the fly. Despite the level of coordination and control that it requires, dialogue is the easiest way speakers possess to come to similar conceptualizations of the world. In this paper, we show how speakers align with each other by mutually controlling the flow of the dialogue and constantly monitoring their own and their interlocutors' way of representing information. Through examples of conversation, we introduce the notions of shared control, meta-representations of alignment and commentaries on alignment, and show how they support mutual understanding and the collaborative creation of abstract concepts. Indeed, whereas speakers can share similar representations of concrete concepts just by mutually attending to a tangible referent or by recalling it, they are likely to need more negotiation and mutual monitoring to build similar representations of abstract concepts.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences’.
Funder
Leverhulme Trust
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Cited by
5 articles.
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