Showing papers in "Discourse Processes in 2012"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue for a functional distinction between the imperative and interrogative formats, arguing that the imperative format is used to implement bilateral requests, that is, to request actions that are integral to an already established joint project between requester and recipient, while the interrogative format is a vehicle for unilateral requests, which are used for enlisting help in new, self-contained projects that are launched in the interest of the speaker as an individual.
Abstract: When making requests, speakers need to select from a range of alternative forms available to them. In a corpus of naturally occurring Italian interaction, the two most common formats chosen are imperatives and interrogative constructions that include a turn-initial dative pronoun mi ‘to/for me’, which is referred to as the Mi X? format in this article. In informal contexts, both forms are used to request low-cost actions for here-and-now purposes. Building on this premise, this article argues for a functional distinction between them. The imperative format is selected to implement bilateral requests—that is, to request actions that are integral to an already established joint project between requester and recipient. On the other hand, the Mi X? format is a vehicle for unilateral requests, which means that it is used for enlisting help in new, self-contained projects that are launched in the interest of the speaker as an individual.
148 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the contextual components utilized to convey sarcastic verbal irony, testing whether theoretical components deemed as necessary for creating a sense of irony are, in fact, necessary, and found that none of these components were found to be necessary.
Abstract: This article investigates the contextual components utilized to convey sarcastic verbal irony, testing whether theoretical components deemed as necessary for creating a sense of irony are, in fact, necessary. A novel task was employed: Given a set of statements that out of context were not rated as sarcastic, participants were instructed to either generate discourse context that would make the statements sarcastic or meaningful (without further specification). In a series of studies, these generated contexts were shown to differ from one another along the dimensions presumed as necessary (failed expectation, pragmatic insincerity, negative tension, and presence of a victim) and along stylistic components (as indexed by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program). However, none of these components were found to be necessary. Indeed, in each case, the items rated as highest in sarcasm were often at the lowest levels on the putative “necessary” characteristic. These data are taken as consistent with const...
107 citations
TL;DR: This article considers points in turn construction where conversation researchers have shown that talk routinely continues beyond possible turn completion, but where bodily-visual behavior doing such turn extension work is found.
Abstract: This article considers points in turn construction where conversation researchers have shown that talk routinely continues beyond possible turn completion, but where bodily-visual behavior doing such turn extension work is found. The bodily-visual behaviors examined share many features with verbal turn extensions, but it is argued that embodied movements have distinct properties that make them well-suited for specific kinds of social action, including stance display and by-play in relation to simultaneous verbal turns and sequences.
55 citations
TL;DR: The language of non-native speakers is less reliable than the language of native speakers in conveying the speaker's intentions and listeners expect such reduced reliability and this leads them to adjust the manner in which they process and represent non- native language by representing non-Native language in less detail.
Abstract: The language of non-native speakers is less reliable than the language of native speakers in conveying the speaker's intentions. We propose that listeners expect such reduced reliability and that this leads them to adjust the manner in which they process and represent non-native language by representing non-native language in less detail. Experiment 1 shows that when people listen to a story, they are less able to detect a word change with a non-native than with a native speaker. This suggests they represent the language of a non-native speaker with fewer details. Experiment 2 shows that, above a certain threshold, the higher participants' working memory is, the less they are able to detect the change with a non-native speaker. This suggests that adjustment to non-native speakers depends on working memory. This research has implications for the role of interpersonal expectations in the way people process language.
48 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that subtle morphological relations between forms actually used in a sentence and other forms have an immediate impact on language processing, although information about the other forms is not necessary for comprehension and may be detrimental to it.
Abstract: Gygax, Gabriel, Sarrasin, Oakhill, and Garnham (2008) showed that readers form a mental representation of gender that is based on grammatical gender in French and German (i.e., masculine supposedly interpretable as a generic form) but is based on stereotypical information in English. In this study, a modification of their stimulus material was used to examine the additional potential influence of pronouns. Across the three languages, pronouns differ in their grammatical gender marking: The English they is gender neutral, the French ils is masculine, and the German sie, although interpretable as generic, is morphologically feminine. Including a later pronominal reference to a group of people introduced by a plural role name significantly altered the masculine role name’s grammatical influence only in German, suggesting that grammatical cues that match (as in French) do not have a cumulative impact on the gender representation, whereas grammatical cues that mismatch (as in German) do counteract one another. These effects indicate that subtle morphological relations between forms actually used in a sentence and other forms have an immediate impact on language processing, although information about the other forms is not necessary for comprehension and may, in some cases, be detrimental to it.
39 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated whether these local causal relations are represented both at the level of the textbase and the situation model, and they found that causal coherence relations were represented at the scene model only.
Abstract: This study focused on the cognitive representation of causal coherence relations linguistically marked with the connective because. This article investigated whether these local causal relations are represented both at the level of the textbase and the situation model. Following earlier studies investigating the psychological validity of levels of discourse representation, this study used a sentence recognition paradigm in which the connective used to indicate the relation between sentences was manipulated. The recognition results obtained in two experiments show that participants only detect changes made at the level of the situation model (because vs. and), but they do not detect differences at the level in surface code (two variants of the Dutch because) and textbase (because vs. after). As no evidence of a separate textbase representation was found, the results suggest that local causal relations are represented at the level of the situation model only.
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the occurrence of uncertainty expressions of graduate students collaborating in computer-mediated discussions to negotiate and construct understandings of new concepts from course readings was examined and found that students expressed uncertainty often and in many ways and that such expression seemed to be integrated in a dynamic system of influences on the conversation.
Abstract: Learning and dialogue may naturally engender feelings and expressions of uncertainty for a variety of reasons and purposes. Yet, little research has examined how patterns of linguistic uncertainty are enacted and changed over time as students reciprocally influence one another and the dialogical system they are creating. This study describes the occurrence of uncertainty expressions of graduate students collaborating in computer-mediated discussions to negotiate and construct understandings of new concepts from course readings. We report on how often uncertainty was expressed in online synchronous and asynchronous discussions and the characteristics of its expression. We also explore the antecedents and consequences of such expression. Findings indicate that students expressed uncertainty often and in many ways and that such expression seemed to be integrated in a dynamic system of influences on the conversation. We conclude that the ability to deal with and express uncertainty appropriately is an importa...
36 citations
TL;DR: The authors used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and Coh-Metrix software to examine linguistic differences with deception in an ultimatum game and found that participants using deception by omission used fewer words and a lower percentage of causation words than other participants.
Abstract: The study used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and Coh-Metrix software to examine linguistic differences with deception in an ultimatum game. In the game, the Allocator was given an amount of money to divide with the Receiver. The Receiver did not know the precise amount the Allocator had to divide, and the Allocator could use deception. Allocators either lied, deceived through omission, or were truthful with the Receiver with their allocation decision. Liars used a higher percentage of third-person pronouns, numbers, and profanity than other participants. Participants using deception by omission used fewer words and a lower percentage of causation words than other participants. Support was found for the “Pinocchio effect”: liars generally used more words than other participants, although truthful Allocators with suspicious partners did not significantly differ from liars on word count. Allocators with suspicious partners used more negative emotion words and profanity. Mixed support was found for indexe...
36 citations
TL;DR: This article examined self-praising behavior of Mandarin speakers in everyday social interaction, focusing on two reporting practices, reporting another's words and reporting "just the facts", and found that these practices are used strategically by speakers in the course of reporting some past event to tacitly achieve a positive presentation of themselves in the current interaction.
Abstract: Drawing on a corpus of 35 hours of videotaped face-to-face conversations collected in Beijing and Hebei, China, this conversation analytic study examines self-praising behavior of Mandarin speakers in everyday social interaction. Focusing on two reporting practices—reporting another's words and reporting “just the facts”—the investigation explores how these practices are used strategically by the speakers in the course of reporting some past event to tacitly achieve a positive presentation of themselves in the current interaction. Analysis of a collection of instances shows several key features shared by these two practices that enable such an interactional task. A discussion of the fit between the practices and the designed action, as well as a possible account for this interconnection, is offered at the end.
30 citations
TL;DR: Turn constructional unit (TCU) as mentioned in this paper consists of at least two components: a host and a continuation, which can be seen as two components of a speaker's turn.
Abstract: At the possible completion of a turn constructional unit (TCU) that has not selected a next speaker, a speaker has two available options: either begin a new TCU or continue the one that has just come to a point of possible completion. This article describes some of the complex turns that result from exercising the second option. These can be seen to consist of at least two components: a host and a continuation. This article focuses, in particular, on cases in which these are produced by different speakers. Although a basic distinction between reverse- and same-directionality continuations can account for many instances, other cases are more complicated. This article suggests that such cases encourage us to consider the variety of footings a speaker can adopt vis-a-vis the prior talk by continuing another participant's turn.
27 citations
TL;DR: The grammatical form of the jos-clause is shown to be linked both to the kind of directive action it accomplishes and to the contingencies associated with it.
Abstract: This article concerns the use of independent jos ‘if’-clauses as directives (requests, proposals, and suggestions) in Finnish everyday conversation. It shows that clause types which are traditionally considered subordinate can be used without any main clauses and, thus, do not project further talk to follow in the same turn. Other participants respond to the directive without waiting for a subsequent main clause to be produced. The grammatical form of the jos-clause is shown to be linked both to the kind of directive action it accomplishes and to the contingencies associated with it.
TL;DR: This paper explored the viability of the analytic distinction between turn-constructional unit continuation and new TCU when hypotactic clause combinations are involved and found that both marked and unmarked forms of causal clause combination are used in turn continuation, with the unit containing the account (the causal clause) being delivered after the completion of a unit implementing the accountable action.
Abstract: This article explores the viability of the analytic distinction between “turn-constructional unit (TCU) continuation” (i.e., continuing a turn beyond a point of possible completion with grammatically dependent material) and “new TCU” (i.e., continuing a turn with grammatically independent material) when hypotactic clause combinations are involved. The focus is on causal clause combinations, which may be either lexico-syntactically marked (e.g., as in English with because) or lexico-syntactically unmarked but prosodically cohesive. Based on data from ordinary conversation, it is found that both marked and unmarked forms are used in turn continuation, with the unit containing the account (the causal clause) being delivered after the completion of a unit implementing the accountable action. Both marked and unmarked forms of causal clause combination, when used in turn continuation, allow for intervening talk after the accountable; both prioritize the account in establishing relevancies for what happens next....
TL;DR: This article explored various uses of the Japanese sentence-final particle kke, which conveys the speaker's claim that she or he has some degree of uncertainty in recalling something from the past.
Abstract: As part of a growing body of conversation analytic research on epistemics in social interaction, this study explores various uses of the Japanese sentence-final particle kke, which conveys the speaker's claim that she or he has some degree of uncertainty in recalling something from the past. The study aims to demonstrate how “mental” concepts like remembering and forgetting are grounded in, and bound to, communicative actions produced by interactants under the contingencies of everyday situations. To that end, the analysis shows how the act of claiming a particular mental state (i.e., uncertainty in recollection) is, in fact, motivated by such interactional concerns as acknowledging one's own responsibility for knowing something, invoking a particular social relationship with the recipient in bringing up a new conversational topic, and minimizing social disaffiliation when disagreeing with the previous speaker's assertion.
TL;DR: Judgment data suggested that the featural similarity (both lexical and semantic) of a sentence to a prereading question can be a strong indicator that a sentence will be deemed potentially relevant by readers.
Abstract: Prereading questions can be an effective tool for directing students' learning. However, it is not always clear what the online effects of a set of prereading questions will be. In two experiments, this study investigated whether readers direct additional attention to and learn more from sentences that are potentially relevant to a set of prereading questions. Eye-tracking data indicated that participants directed additional attention (as indicated by first-pass reinspection and lookback duration) to sentences that were potentially relevant to the prereading questions they had received. Participants also learned more information from these sentences (as indicated by free recall rates). Judgment data suggested that the featural similarity (both lexical and semantic) of a sentence to a prereading question can be a strong indicator that a sentence will be deemed potentially relevant by readers. Results are discussed with respect to an account of instructional effects in which featural similarity drives early...
TL;DR: This paper found that causal events presented in backward temporal order may be processed more slowly compared to causality presented in forward temporal order, and that response times were faster in the forward causal condition than in the backward causal condition.
Abstract: To successfully comprehend narrative text, readers often make inferences about different causes and effects that occur in a text. In this study, participants read texts in which events related to a cause were presented before an effect (i.e., the forward causal condition), texts in which an effect was presented before the events related to a cause (i.e., the backward causal condition), or control (i.e., the non-causal) texts. Lexical decision response times to cause-relevant words were faster in the forward causal condition than in the control condition and were faster in the backward causal condition than in the control condition. Importantly, response times were faster in the forward causal condition than in the backward causal condition. These effects were unrelated to individual differences in reading ability. These results suggest that readers process causal relations regardless of temporal order but that causal events presented in backward temporal order may be processed more slowly compared to caus...
TL;DR: This article used a card-matching task to examine how conversational grounding in younger and older adults is influenced both by direct visual access to the conversation partner and by the relative abstractness of task referents.
Abstract: Many communicative situations present interlocutors with the opportunity to use multiple modalities to establish shared perspectives on conversational referents, a process known as grounding. In the current study, we use a card-matching task to examine how conversational grounding in younger and older adults is influenced both by direct visual access to the conversation partner and by the relative abstractness of task referents. On the whole, mutual visibility failed to moderate more general age-related differences in task performance; overall, dialogues between older adults involved more talk and more explicit negotiation of perspectives. A detailed examination of gaze behavior revealed that use of the visual channel in both older and younger adults was greatly constrained by task-related demands, such as the need to attend to one's cards, particularly when they were more difficult to describe. Even so, individuals in both age groups gazed at their partners more frequently and displayed more mutual gaze ...
TL;DR: It is shown that this non-consequential form of kara ‘because/so’ is used for giving explanations for an assertion in an immediately preceding turn and for (re)claiming a turn.
Abstract: This article focuses on the grammar of Japanese kara ‘because/so’ and kedo ‘but’, traditionally understood as conjunctive particles whose function is to mark a “subordinate” clause and connect it to a following “main” clause. This article shows that, in conversation, these forms are often used turn-finally without an apparent main clause and that they are grammaticizing into final particles functioning to yield a turn. Then lexicalized uses of kara ‘because/so’ exploited for turn continuation purposes are considered, showing that different uses of kara ‘because/so’ reflect various stages of its ongoing change. It is argued that the lexicalized independent conjunction dakara is developing from a “consequential” conjunctive particle connecting two clauses to an independent “non-consequential” form. This article shows that this non-consequential form is used for giving explanations for an assertion in an immediately preceding turn and for (re)claiming a turn. Findings shed light on the grammar of turn contin...
TL;DR: It is argued that the key to a full understanding of sentences like “Pijiu ba, he dianr!” is to think of them as “incremental sentences” (i.e., bipartite structures consisting of a “host” followed by an “increasing”).
Abstract: For almost 80 years, Chinese linguists have been fascinated by sentences like “Pijiu ba, he dianr!” (“Beer, I'll have some!”), which look superficially like a jumbled-up version of “normal-order sentences.” Numerous accounts have been proposed to explain their structure and meaning, but no consensus has been reached as to how their true essence should be captured, making it one of the most intriguing and least well understood phenomena in Chinese grammar. This article adopts a “dynamic” perspective and analyzes these sentences from the point of view of their planning and delivery in real time. It is argued that the key to a full understanding of these sentences is to think of them as “incremental sentences” (i.e., bipartite structures consisting of a “host” followed by an “increment”). An examination of a corpus of naturally occurring data shows that, as a grammatical form, the incremental sentence can be used in different sequential contexts to perform a variety of actions. These span a spectrum of possi...
TL;DR: The authors investigated why some individuals who read refutational text demonstrate conceptual change learning, whereas others do not, and found that the differences in change learning were related to readers' resolution strategies.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate why some individuals who read refutational text demonstrate conceptual change learning, whereas others do not. Middle school students were asked to complete a pretest, read a refutational text while thinking aloud, complete a posttest, and participate in an interview. The data were analyzed in two phases. In the first phase, pretest and posttest data were analyzed, which showed that readers had acquired knowledge about fitness in evolutionary biology. In the second phase, readers who did and did not demonstrate conceptual change learning were purposively selected, and their think-aloud and interview data were analyzed to explore their online discrepancy resolution strategies. Differences in conceptual change learning were related to readers' resolution strategies. Although readers in both groups were aware of the inconsistencies between their knowledge and the to-be-learned information in the text, those who demonstrated conceptual change learning were more eff...
TL;DR: Turn constructional unit extensions have been studied extensively in the literature as discussed by the authors, with a focus on utterances that contain structural "oddities" (i.e., oddities relative to the canonical structures of particular languages).
Abstract: Recent years have seen a surge of interest in “increments” among students of conversational interaction. This article first outlines “incrementing” as an analytical problem (i.e., as turn constructional unit [TCU] extensions) by tracing its origins back to Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson's (1974) famous turn-taking article. Then, the article summarizes and reviews Schegloff's recent publications and presentations, which revisited this problem, as well as contributions on the same theme by scholars using data from a variety of languages and settings. It is suggested that authors have generally focused their analytic attention on utterances that contain structural “oddities” (i.e., oddities relative to the “canonical” structures of particular languages), which could, and do, vary tremendously across languages. A general account of TCU extensions can only be built on the basis of more data from a larger variety of languages, and it must be typologically informed.
TL;DR: This article found that the perception of humor and recognition of the critical element was easier when the elements involved in the jokes were opposite in terms of global contrariety (which is the type of contrarity that is perceptually more evident and more easily perceivable).
Abstract: According to the cognitive approach to humor, the comprehension of humorous texts implies recognizing an incongruity and resolving it. This article studies whether the cognitive process involved in the recognition of incongruity is affected by the conditions that make contrariety evident or only analytically recognizable in the perceptual domain. In study 1, participants were asked to choose (condition 1) or rank (condition 2) the best humorous text among three variations of the same jokes in which the critical incongruity was a global, additive, or intermediate contrariety. In studies 2 and 3, they were asked to recognize the critical property on which these three versions of the jokes played. The findings confirmed that the perception of humor and recognition of the critical element was easier when the elements involved in the jokes were opposite in terms of global contrariety (which is the type of contrariety that is perceptually more evident and more easily perceivable).
TL;DR: The authors found that when reading aloud, participants in the slow condition read slower only when instructed to think about the character's voice, whereas when reading silently, they read faster than the fast condition.
Abstract: Despite the longstanding belief in an inner voice, there is surprisingly little known about the perceptual features of that voice during text processing. This article asked whether readers infer nonlinguistic phonological features, such as speech rate, associated with a character's speech. Previous evidence for this type of auditory imagery has been found, but only when reading was preceded by an explicit auditory presentation of the character's voice (Alexander & Nygaard, 2008; Kurby, Magliano, & Rapp, 2009). Three experiments included a fast condition in which the main character was described as speaking quickly and a slow condition in which the main character was described as speaking slowly. When reading aloud, participants in the slow condition read slower. However, when reading silently, participants in the slow condition read slower only when instructed to think about the character's voice. This work concludes that auditory images of speech rate information are not routinely formed during silent re...
TL;DR: The results of these experiments suggest that information-structure constructs, like topic, exert an influence that is not based only on increased accessibility but also reflects mapping to syntactic structure during sentence production.
Abstract: Four experiments investigate the influence of topic status and givenness on how speakers and writers structure sentences. The results of these experiments show that when a referent is previously given, it is more likely to be produced early in both sentences and word lists, confirming prior work showing that givenness increases the accessibility of given referents. When a referent is previously given and assigned topic status, it is even more likely to be produced early in a sentence, but not in a word list. Thus, there appears to be an early mention advantage for topics that is present in both written and spoken modalities, but is specific to sentence production. These results suggest that information-structure constructs like topic exert an influence that is not based only on increased accessibility, but also reflects mapping to syntactic structure during sentence production.
TL;DR: This paper investigated how the same versus different lexical encodings of specialist concepts influenced peer-to-peer online discourse behavior and information exchange, and found that dyads in the different-terminology condition communicated more intensively (e.g., clarifying the conceptual meaning of specialist terms by asking questions and giving explanations).
Abstract: Using the same specialist terms in online discourse can indicate knowledge overlaps between partners. However, linguistic overlaps do not automatically ensure overlaps in conceptual representations. In particular, learning situations, which typically focus on knowledge acquisition, require a sufficient understanding of domain-specific concepts. This study investigated how the same versus different lexical encodings of specialist concepts influenced peer-to-peer online discourse behavior and information exchange. Student dyads communicated via email while preparing a written text. Partners in each dyad received different texts containing either the same terminology across texts or different terminology. Results showed that dyads in the different-terminology condition communicated more intensively (e.g., clarifying the conceptual meaning of specialist terms by asking questions and giving explanations) than those in the same-terminology condition. However, despite exchanging more information, learners in the...
TL;DR: An interactional account of turn continuations in Chinese conversation is offered, which are characterized as being effected by latching/rush-through, being clauses with predicates, either main or adverbial, and taking a retrospective orientation in the kind of interactional work they do.
Abstract: This article offers an interactional account of turn continuations in Chinese conversation, which are characterized as (a) being effected by latching/rush-through, (b) being clauses with predicates, either main or adverbial, and (c) taking a retrospective orientation in the kind of interactional work they do. Close examination reveals that while, in general, these continuations provide explanation, specification, or elaboration, they serve to address aspects of immediate prior talk as deemed inadequate in given interactional/sequential contexts. Findings show that a turn's possible completion point is an organizationally consequential place around which one can indicate turn continuation, should the need come up later in the turn. A prime way to bid for turn continuation at this place is the use of prosody.
TL;DR: This paper found that frame knowledge is also readily manifested in gesture in daily conversation and that gesture not only reveals roles and role relations in a scene as distinct from those in speech, but also collaborates with speech to jointly manifest part of a script of the frame.
Abstract: Frames are cognitive structures of knowledge grounded in people's social interaction in recurrent sociocultural activities or individual incidences. Discussion concerning the knowledge in frames largely focuses on its linguistic manifestation with regard to roles and role relations in scenes. Little attention has been paid to the scriptal knowledge in conceptual frames. The present study provides empirical evidence that frame knowledge is also readily manifested in gesture in daily conversation. Gesture not only reveals roles and role relations in a scene as distinct from those in speech, but it also collaborates with speech to jointly manifest part of a script of the frame. In addition, in line with the view of prominence, the part of frame knowledge being selected for manifestation in gesture is the speaker's focus of attention on a certain aspect of the scene during speaking. Finally, the temporal patterning of gesture and speech further bears out growth point theory, in that the planning of an utteran...
TL;DR: Turn continuations that are not necessarily criterially dependent on clausal syntax are investigated in this article, where a series of syntactically disjunct clausal units are both retrospectively oriented toward and pragmatically, semantically, and prosodically coherent with preceding material.
Abstract: Recent studies illustrate cases of turn continuations that are not necessarily criterially dependent on clausal syntax (Couper-Kuhlen & Ono, 2007; Ford, Fox, & Thompson, 2002), advancing a more multidimensional construal of turn expansions, in general, which, as Auer (2007) put it, “is not a syntactic issue alone” (p. 651). This study further develops such a possibility and looks at a class of examples in Japanese conversation whereby a series of syntactically disjunct clausal units are both retrospectively oriented toward and pragmatically, semantically, and prosodically coherent with preceding material, often acting functionally as continuations. Some implications for the role of syntax in theory regarding turn-constructional unit continuations, specifically, and turn-taking, in general, are also discussed.