Document Detail


Pragmatic choice in conversation.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  22253174     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Data-Review    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
How do people decide what to say in context? Many theories of pragmatics assume that people have specialized knowledge that drives them to utter certain words in different situations. But these theories are mostly unable to explain both the regularity and variability in people's speech behaviors. Our purpose in this article is to advance a view of pragmatics based on complexity theory, which specifically explains the pragmatic choices speakers make in conversations. The concept of self-organized criticality sheds light on how a history of utterances and subtle details of a situation surrounding a conversation may directly specify language behavior. Under this view, pragmatic choice in discourse does not reflect the output of any dedicated pragmatic module but arises from a complex coordination or coupling between speakers and their varying communicative tasks.
Authors:
Raymond W Gibbs; Guy Van Orden
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Topics in cognitive science     Volume:  4     ISSN:  1756-8765     ISO Abbreviation:  Top Cogn Sci     Publication Date:  2012 Jan 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2012-01-18     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101506764     Medline TA:  Top Cogn Sci     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  7-20     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz CAP Center for Cognition, Action & Perception, University of Cincinnati.
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