The Alignment Perspective

1
The Alignment Perspective
Approaches to dialogue
Part XIV
Peter Kühnlein/Jens Stegmann
2
The Alignment Perspective
Pickering, M. Garrod, S. (2003) Toward a
Mechanistic Psychology of Dialogue, submitted to
BBS, http//www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Garrod/Re
ferees/
3
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions
4
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims
5
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use
6
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use People who can produce monologue
usually can also produce dialogue but not
vice versa
7
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use People who can produce monologue
usually can also produce dialogue but not
vice versa Children learn how to speak in
dialogic situations
8
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in dialogue
9
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue
10
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue
11
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t.
dialogue Purported reasons for neglecting
dialogue
12
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t.
dialogue Purported reasons for neglecting
dialogue Practical reasons it is assumed to be
too hard (or even impossible) to study, given
the degree of experimental control necessary
13
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t.
dialogue Purported reasons for neglecting
dialogue Practical reasons it is assumed to be
too hard (or even impossible) to study, given
the degree of experimental control necessary
But cf. the studies by Garrod et al
14
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t.
dialogue Purported reasons for neglecting
dialogue Practical reasons it is assumed to be
too hard (or even impossible) to study, given
the degree of experimental control necessary
Theoretical reasons psycholinguists tend to
develop processing theories that draw upon
classical, Chomsky-style generative linguistics
(and dialogue is ignored there)
15
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition
16
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-product integration of
ideas from information-processing psychology and
generative grammar
17
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-product integration of
ideas from information-processing psychology and
generative grammar mechanistic accounts of
how people compute different levels of
representation
18
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-product integration of
ideas from information-processing psychology and
generative grammar mechanistic accounts of
how people compute different levels of
representation experimental paradigms
de-contextualized language
19
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-action
20
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-action ideas from
ordinary language philosophy and sociology
21
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-action ideas from
ordinary language philosophy and sociology
mentalistic explanations (intentions, beliefs,
desires, ...)
22
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark draws a distinction between the
language-as-product vs. language-as-action
tradition Language-as-action ideas from
ordinary language philosophy and sociology
mentalistic explanations (intentions, beliefs,
desires, ...) gaining ecological validity
natural tasks, language in context
23
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark is positioned on the language-as-action side
24
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark is positioned on the language-as-action
side He counts as the (main) advocate of the
experimental study of dialogue
25
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark is positioned on the language-as-action
side He counts as the (main) advocate of the
experimental study of dialogue His focus is on
strategies employed by interlocutors (rather
than on underlying processing mechanisms)
26
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark is positioned on the language-as-action
side He counts as the (main) advocate of the
experimental study of dialogue His focus is on
strategies employed by interlocutors (rather
than on underlying processing mechanisms) The
main explanatory notion he employs is that of
coordination of agents
27
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark is positioned on the language-as-action
side He counts as the (main) advocate of the
experimental study of dialogue His focus is on
strategies employed by interlocutors (rather
than on underlying processing mechanisms) The
main explanatory notion he employs is that of
coordination of agents (something Carl doesnt
believe in)
28
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Existing mechanistic accounts rely
almost entirely on monologue, a derivative form
of language use / processing They are therefore
limited / inadequate accounts w.r.t. dialogue H.
Clark is positioned on the language-as-action
side He counts as the (main) advocate of the
experimental study of dialogue His focus is on
strategies employed by interlocutors (rather
than on underlying processing mechanisms) The
main explanatory notion he employs is that of
coordination of agents (something Carl doesnt
believe in)
29
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in dialogue
30
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned.
31
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned Alignment
differs from the classical (Lewis, Clark) kind of
coordination in that it is a psychological
mechanism, not a strategy in behaviour
32
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned The
linguistic representations employed by the
interlocutors become aligned at many levels of
representation
33
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned The
linguistic representations employed by the
interlocutors become aligned at many levels of
representation Alignment is the result of a
largely automatic process
34
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned The
linguistic representations employed by the
interlocutors become aligned at many levels of
representation Alignment is the result of a
largely automatic process greatly simplifies
production and comprehension
35
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned Aspects of
processing following from IAM simple
interactive inference mechanism
36
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned Aspects of
processing following from IAM simple
interactive inference mechanism development of
local dialogue routines
37
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned Aspects of
processing following from IAM simple
interactive inference mechanism development of
local dialogue routines explanation for
self-monitoring in production
38
The Alignment Perspective
Core Intuitions Aims State-of-the-Art
Dialogue is the most basic and natural form of
language use Hence, psycholinguistics should
provide an account of the basic
language processing mechanisms in
dialogue Thesis Dialogue is coordinated
behaviour in that the representations
that underly discourse become aligned Also
addressed (evidence for the IAM)
implications of the IAM
39
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment
40
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The maze game
cooperative game two subjects A and B, are
located in different rooms
41
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The maze game
cooperative game two subjects A and B, are
located in different rooms they can communicate
via audio link
42
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The maze game
cooperative game two subjects A and B, are
located in different rooms they can communicate
via audio link A and B have maps of a maze in
front of them
43
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The maze game
cooperative game two subjects A and B, are
located in different rooms they can communicate
via audio link A and B have maps of a maze in
front of them A tries to describe his position
(arrow) to B
44
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
45
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are?
46
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs)
47
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up
48
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side?
49
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second box.
50
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
51
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well right, starting
from the left, youre one along A Uh-huh B
and one up?
52
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well right, starting
from the left, youre one along A Uh-huh B
and one up? A Yeah, and Im trying to get to ...
53
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
28 utterances later
54
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.)
28 utterances later
55
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.) A Two along Im not in
the first box, Im in the second box B Youre
two along
56
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.) A Two along Im not in
the first box, Im in the second box B Youre
two along A Two up (1 sec.) counting the if
you take the first box as being one up B (2
sec.) Uh-huh
57
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.) A Two along Im not in
the first box, Im in the second box B Youre
two along A Two up (1 sec.) counting the if
you take the first box as being one up B (2
sec.) Uh-huh A Well Im two along, two up (1,5
sec.) B Two up?
58
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.) A Two along Im not in
the first box, Im in the second box B Youre
two along A Two up (1 sec.) counting the if
you take the first box as being one up B (2
sec.) Uh-huh A Well Im two along, two up (1,5
sec.) B Two up? A Yeah (1 sec.) so I can move
down one
59
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.) A Two along Im not in
the first box, Im in the second box B Youre
two along A Two up (1 sec.) counting the if
you take the first box as being one up B (2
sec.) Uh-huh A Well Im two along, two up (1,5
sec.) B Two up? A Yeah (1 sec.) so I can move
down one B Yeah I see were you are
60
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
At first glance this dialogue looks disorganized
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
61
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
At first glance this dialogue looks
disorganized Many utterances do not constitute
grammatical sentences
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
62
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
At first glance this dialogue looks
disorganized Many utterances do not constitute
grammatical sentences There is shared production
between speakers (7./8., 43./44.)
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
63
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
At first glance this dialogue looks
disorganized Many utterances do not constitute
grammatical sentences There is shared production
between speakers (7./8., 43./44.) The speakers
seemingly do not know how to say what they want
to say (4. vs. 46.)
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
64
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
B You are starting from the left, youre one
along, one up? (2 sec.) A Two along Im not in
the first box, Im in the second box B Youre
two along A Two up (1 sec.) counting the if
you take the first box as being one up B (2
sec.) Uh-huh A Well Im two along, two up (1,5
sec.) B Two up? A Yeah (1 sec.) so I can move
down one B Yeah I see were you are
65
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
At first glance this dialogue looks
disorganized Many utterances do not constitute
grammatical sentences There is shared production
between speakers (7./8., 43./44.) The speakers
seemingly do not know how to say what they want
to say (4. vs. 46.) Assumption dialogue is a
joint activity
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
66
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
At first glance this dialogue looks
disorganized Many utterances do not constitute
grammatical sentences There is shared production
between speakers (7./8., 43./44.) The speakers
seemingly do not know how to say what they want
to say (4. vs. 46.) Assumption dialogue is a
joint activity it involves cooperation between
interlocutors in a way that allows them to
sufficiently understand the meaning of the
dialogue as a whole dialogue is a game of
cooperation
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
67
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
Conversational analysts argue that dialogue
turns are linked across interlocutors This
means that production and comprehension
processes become coupled
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well
68
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment A sample dialogue
Analysis
Conversational analysts argue that dialogue
turns are linked across interlocutors This
means that production and comprehension
processes become coupled Furthermore, the
meaning of what is being communicated depends on
the interlocutors agreement/consensus, and is
hence subject to negotiation (4) - (11)
B ... Tell me where you are? A Ehm Oh God
(laughs) B (laughs) A Right two along from
the bottom one up B Two along from the bottom,
which side? A The left going from left to right
in the second box. B Yourre in the second
box. A One up (1 sec.) I take it weve got
identical mazes? B Yeah well right, starting
from the left, youre one along A Uh-huh B
and one up? A Yeah, and Im trying to get to ...
69
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
70
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
Situation model a multi-dimensional
representation of the situation under discussion
(space, time, causality, intentionality,
individuals) assumed to capture what people are
thinking about while understanding a text
71
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
Situation model a multi-dimensional
representation of the situation under discussion
(space, time, causality, intentionality,
individuals) assumed to capture what people are
thinking about while understanding a text
Think of mental models, Johnson-Laird style, that
always have been in the discussion concerning
inference etc.
72
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
Situation model a multi-dimensional
representation of the situation under discussion
(space, time, causality, intentionality,
individuals) assumed to capture what people are
thinking about while understanding a
text Assumption in successful dialogue,
interlocutors develop (approximately) aligned
situation models
73
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
Situation model a multi-dimensional
representation of the situation under discussion
(space, time, causality, intentionality,
individuals) assumed to capture what people are
thinking about while understanding a
text Assumption in successful dialogue,
interlocutors develop (approximately) aligned
situation models The alignment of situation
models is not necessary in principle but it would
be inefficient not to align (maintaining two
representations of the same situation)
74
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
Situation model a multi-dimensional
representation of the situation under discussion
(space, time, causality, intentionality,
individuals) assumed to capture what people are
thinking about while understanding a
text Assumption in successful dialogue,
interlocutors develop (approximately) aligned
situation models The alignment of situation
models is not necessary in principle but it would
be inefficient not to align (maintaining two
representations of the same situation) Under
some circumstances representing differences seems
to be necessary (deception, concealment)
75
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models
Situation model a multi-dimensional
representation of the situation under discussion
(space, time, causality, intentionality,
individuals) assumed to capture what people are
thinking about while understanding a
text Assumption in successful dialogue,
interlocutors develop (approximately) aligned
situation models The alignment of situation
models is not necessary in principle but it would
be inefficient not to align (maintaining two
representations of the same situation) Under
some circumstances representing differences seems
to be necessary (deception, concealment) Interlo
cutors need not align their situation models
entirely
76
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models How
to align them
In theory, interlocutors could achieve alignment
through explicit negotiation, but in practice
they normally do not
77
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models How
to align them
In theory, interlocutors could achieve alignment
through explicit negotiation, but in practice
they normally do not Global alignment seems to
result from local alignment at the level of the
linguistic representations
78
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Situation models How
to align them
In theory, interlocutors could achieve alignment
through explicit negotiation, but in practice
they normally do not Global alignment seems to
result from local alignment at the level of the
linguistic representations This works via a
priming mechanism, the process is resource-free
(economic) and automatic (unconscious)
79
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations
80
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations
There is evidence for alignment at various levels
of linguistic representation
81
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations
There is evidence for alignment at various levels
of linguistic representation alignment of
lexical processing during dialogue
interlocutors develop the same set of referring
expressions, expressions becomes shorter and
more similar on repetition
82
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations
There is evidence for alignment at various levels
of linguistic representation alignment of
lexical processing during dialogue
interlocutors develop the same set of referring
expressions, expressions becomes shorter and
more similar on repetition syntactic alignment
in dialogue interlocutors tend to repeat
syntactic form
83
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations
There is evidence for alignment at various levels
of linguistic representation alignment of
lexical processing during dialogue
interlocutors develop the same set of referring
expressions, expressions becomes shorter and
more similar on repetition syntactic alignment
in dialogue interlocutors tend to repeat
syntactic form alignment at the level of
articulation reduction, accent and speech rate
84
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations
There is evidence for alignment at various levels
of linguistic representation alignment of
lexical processing during dialogue
interlocutors develop the same set of referring
expressions, expressions becomes shorter and
more similar on repetition syntactic alignment
in dialogue interlocutors tend to repeat
syntactic form alignment at the level of
articulation reduction, accent and speech
rate alignment in comprehension
question/answer pairs with repeated forms more
natural
85
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other levels
86
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other
levels Examples of influences between levels
establishing dialogue lexicons (local
interpretations)
87
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other
levels Examples of influences between levels
establishing dialogue lexicons (local
interpretations) syntactic alignment is
enhanced when more lexical items are shared
88
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other
levels Examples of influences between levels
establishing dialogue lexicons (local
interpretations) syntactic alignment is
enhanced when more lexical items are shared
semantic relations between lexical items enhance
syntactic priming
89
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other
levels Examples of influences between levels
establishing dialogue lexicons (local
interpretations) syntactic alignment is
enhanced when more lexical items are shared
semantic relations between lexical items enhance
syntactic priming The closer the relationship at
one level (e.g. semantic), the stronger the
tendency to align at another (e.g. syntactic)
90
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other
levels Examples of influences between levels
establishing dialogue lexicons (local
interpretations) syntactic alignment is
enhanced when more lexical items are shared
semantic relations between lexical items enhance
syntactic priming The closer the relationship at
one level (e.g. semantic), the stronger the
tendency to align at another (e.g.
syntactic) Important consequences Interlocutors
will tend to align expressions at many different
levels at the same time and repeat each other in
the same way
91
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Linguistic
representations How to align them
Thesis Aligned representations at one level
lead to aligned representations at other
levels Examples of influences between levels
establishing dialogue lexicons (local
interpretations) syntactic alignment is
enhanced when more lexical items are shared
semantic relations between lexical items enhance
syntactic priming The closer the relationship at
one level (e.g. semantic), the stronger the
tendency to align at another (e.g.
syntactic) Important consequences Interlocutors
will tend to align expressions at many different
levels at the same time and repeat each other in
the same way Prediction Dialogue should be
highly repetitive should make extensive use of
fixed expressions (dialogue routines)
92
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Failing alignment
The primitive processes of alignment are not
fool-proof, interlocutors might align only
superficially
93
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Failing alignment
The primitive processes of alignment are not
fool-proof, interlocutors might align only
superficially They might need to be able to
appeal to other mechanisms repair processes -
in order to maintain alignment These mechanisms
(more later) supplement the basic process of
alignment
94
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
95
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
96
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
The prevailing psycholinguistic approach (e.g.
Levelt) transfer of information takes place
via decoupled / isolated production and
comprehension processes
97
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
The prevailing psycholinguistic approach (e.g.
Levelt) transfer of information takes place
via decoupled / isolated production and
comprehension processes no particular
association between levels of representation used
by speaker and listener
98
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
The prevailing psycholinguistic approach (e.g.
Levelt) transfer of information takes place
via decoupled / isolated production and
comprehension processes no particular
association between levels of representation used
by speaker and listener production
non-linguistic idea / message is converted into a
series of linguistic representations
99
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
The prevailing psycholinguistic approach (e.g.
Levelt) transfer of information takes place
via decoupled / isolated production and
comprehension processes no particular
association between levels of representation used
by speaker and listener production
non-linguistic idea / message is converted into a
series of linguistic representations final
representation is converted into articulatory
program intermediate representations serve as
way-stations on the road to production
100
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
The prevailing psycholinguistic approach (e.g.
Levelt) transfer of information takes place
via decoupled / isolated production and
comprehension processes no particular
association between levels of representation used
by speaker and listener production
non-linguistic idea / message is converted into a
series of linguistic representations final
representation is converted into articulatory
program intermediate representations serve as
way-stations on the road to production
comprehension decodes product by converting
into successive levels of linguistic
representation until message is (re-)constructed
101
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The old story
The prevailing psycholinguistic approach (e.g.
Levelt)
102
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension
103
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension production speaker is guided by
what has just been said
104
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension production speaker is guided by
what has just been said comprehension listener
is constrained by what he has just said
105
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension production speaker is guided by
what has just been said comprehension listener
is constrained by what he has just
said Utterances are built up as joint
activities interlocutors align at many levels
of representation
106
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension production speaker is guided by
what has just been said comprehension listener
is constrained by what he has just
said Utterances are built up as joint
activities interlocutors align at many levels
of representation each level of representation
is causally implicated in the process of
communication
107
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension production speaker is guided by
what has just been said comprehension listener
is constrained by what he has just
said Utterances are built up as joint
activities interlocutors align at many levels
of representation each level of representation
is causally implicated in the process of
communication intermediate representations are
retained implicitly
108
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
There is evidence that in dialogue production and
comprehension processes are coupled (Garrod 1999)
with tight interleaving of production and
comprehension production speaker is guided by
what has just been said comprehension listener
is constrained by what he has just
said Utterances are built up as joint
activities interlocutors align at many levels
of representation each level of representation
is causally implicated in the process of
communication intermediate representations are
retained implicitly Because alignment at one
level leads to alignment at others, the
interlocutors can understand each other
(alignment at the level of situation models)
109
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
110
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Core assumptions Successful dialogue involves
the development of aligned representations by
the interlocutors
111
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Core assumptions Successful dialogue involves
the development of aligned representations by
the interlocutors These are brought about by
priming mechanisms at each level of linguistic
representation
112
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Core assumptions Successful dialogue involves
the development of aligned representations by
the interlocutors These are brought about by
priming mechanisms at each level of linguistic
representation percolation between the levels
alignment at one level enhances alignment at
other levels
113
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Core assumptions Successful dialogue involves
the development of aligned representations by
the interlocutors These are brought about by
priming mechanisms at each level of linguistic
representation percolation between the levels
alignment at one level enhances alignment at
other levels repair mechanisms, for cases of
misalignment
114
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channel of alignment
115
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channels of alignment are bi-directional,
direct and automatic unconscious
116
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channels of alignment are bi-directional,
direct and automatic unconscious linguistic
information conveyed is encoded in sound
117
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channels of alignment are bi-directional,
direct and automatic unconscious linguistic
information conveyed is encoded in sound The
communicative mechanism exploited is priming
lexical priming syntactic priming etc.
118
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channels of alignment are bi-directional,
direct and automatic unconscious linguistic
information conveyed is encoded in sound The
communicative mechanism exploited is priming
lexical priming syntactic priming etc. Things
are different with monologue the goal of
monologue is not to get aligned representations
119
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channels of alignment are bi-directional,
direct and automatic unconscious linguistic
information conveyed is encoded in sound The
communicative mechanism exploited is priming
lexical priming syntactic priming etc. Things
are different with monologue the goal of
monologue is not to get aligned representations
representations can rapidly diverge
120
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
Channels of alignment are bi-directional,
direct and automatic unconscious linguistic
information conveyed is encoded in sound The
communicative mechanism exploited is priming
lexical priming syntactic priming etc. Things
are different with monologue the goal of
monologue is not to get aligned representations
representations can rapidly diverge priming in
monologue can be thought of as an epiphenomenal
effect
121
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
The IAM assumes that production and comprehension
draw upon the same linguistic representations
? parity between comprehension and production
122
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
The IAM assumes that production and comprehension
draw upon the same linguistic representations
? parity between comprehension and production A
representation that has just been constructed (in
comprehension) can be used for production or
vice versa
123
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
The IAM assumes that production and comprehension
draw upon the same linguistic representations
? parity between comprehension and production A
representation that has just been constructed (in
comprehension) can be used for production or
vice versa Parity requires the representations
to be the same, but the processes need not be
related (e.g. reversed)
124
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
The IAM assumes that production and comprehension
draw upon the same linguistic representations
? parity between comprehension and production A
representation that has just been constructed (in
comprehension) can be used for production or
vice versa Parity requires the representations
to be the same, but the processes need not be
related (e.g. reversed) of representation is
somewhat controversial among psycholinguists
125
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment The processing model
The new story
The IAM assumes that production and comprehension
draw upon the same linguistic representations
? parity between comprehension and production A
representation that has just been constructed (in
comprehension) can be used for production or
vice versa Parity requires the representations
to be the same, but the processes need not be
related (e.g. reversed) of representation is
somewhat controversial among psycholinguists
might be a means of explaining nonlinguistic
perception/action links
126
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
127
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication
128
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication reflects the pool of background
knowledge that one can reasonably assume to
be shared by the interlocutors on the basis of
the (linguistic and non-linguistic) evidence
at hand
129
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication reflects the pool of background
knowledge that one can reasonably assume to
be shared by the interlocutors on the basis of
the (linguistic and non-linguistic) evidence
at hand related notions common -, mutual -
joint knowledge
130
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication reflects the pool of background
knowledge that one can reasonably assume to
be shared by the interlocutors on the basis of
the (linguistic and non-linguistic) evidence
at hand related notions common -, mutual -
joint knowledge Clarks (1996) notion of CG
(shared basis)
131
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication reflects the pool of background
knowledge that one can reasonably assume to
be shared by the interlocutors on the basis of
the (linguistic and non-linguistic) evidence
at hand related notions common -, mutual -
joint knowledge Clarks (1996) notion of CG
(shared basis) p is common ground for
members of C iff every member of C has
information that basis b holds
132
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication reflects the pool of background
knowledge that one can reasonably assume to
be shared by the interlocutors on the basis of
the (linguistic and non-linguistic) evidence
at hand related notions common -, mutual -
joint knowledge Clarks (1996) notion of CG
(shared basis) p is common ground for
members of C iff every member of C has
information that basis b holds, b indicates to
every member of C that every member of C has
information that basis b holds
133
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Common Ground (CG) is one of the key conceptual
notions in current research on dialogue
critical pre-condition for successful
communication reflects the pool of background
knowledge that one can reasonably assume to
be shared by the interlocutors on the basis of
the (linguistic and non-linguistic) evidence
at hand related notions common -, mutual -
joint knowledge Clarks (1996) notion of CG
(shared basis) p is common ground for
members of C iff every member of C has
information that basis b holds, b indicates to
every member of C that every member of C has
information that basis b holds, b
indicates to every member of C that p.
134
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Implicit common ground (ICG) is information that
is shared by the interlocutors due to alignment
135
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Implicit common ground (ICG) is information that
is shared by the interlocutors due to alignment
it gets built up automatically,
136
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Implicit common ground (ICG) is information that
is shared by the interlocutors due to alignment
it gets built up automatically, is used in
basic repair mechanisms
137
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Implicit common ground (ICG) is information that
is shared by the interlocutors due to alignment
it gets built up automatically, is used in
basic repair mechanisms is effective, because
with (nearly) aligned situation models, both
interlocutors foreground the same information
138
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Implicit common ground (ICG) is information that
is shared by the interlocutors due to alignment
it gets built up automatically, is used in
basic repair mechanisms is effective, because
with (nearly) aligned situation models, both
interlocutors foreground the same
information gets extended as the conversation
proceeds
139
The Alignment Perspective
Dialogue and Alignment Common ground,
misalignment interactive repair
Implicit common ground (ICG) is information that
is shared by the interlocutors due to alignment
it gets built up automatically, is used in
basic rep