Coordinating in dialogue : using compound contributions to join a party
Compound contributions (CCs) â dialogue contributions that continue or complete an earlier contribution â are an important and common device conversational participants use to extend their own and each otherâs turns. The organisation of these cross-turn structures is one of the defining characteristics of natural dialogue, and cross-person CCs provide the paradigm case of coordination in dialogue. This thesis combines corpus analysis, experiments and theoretical modelling to explore how CCs are used, their effects on coordination and implications for dialogue models. The syntactic and pragmatic distribution of CCs is mapped using corpora of ordinary and task-oriented dialogues. This indicates that the principal factors conditioning the distribution of CCs are pragmatic and that same- and cross-person CCs tend to occur in different contexts. In order to test the impact of CCs on other conversational participants, two experiments are presented. These systematically manipulate, for the first time, the occurrence of CCs in live dialogue using text-based communication. The results suggest that syntax does not directly constrain the interpretation of CCs, and the primary effect of a cross-person CC on third
Howes, Christine
Linguistics
Coordinating in dialogue : using compound contributions to join a party. Compound contributions (CCs) â dialogue contributions that continue or complete an earlier contribution â are an important and common device conversational participants use to extend their own and each otherâs turns. The organisation of these cross-turn structures is one of the defining characteristics of natural dialogue, and cross-person CCs provide the paradigm case of coordination in dialogue. This thesis combines corpus analysis, experiments and theoretical modelling to explore how CCs are used, their effects on coordination and implications for dialogue models. The syntactic and pragmatic distribution of CCs is mapped using corpora of ordinary and task-oriented dialogues. This indicates that the principal factors conditioning the distribution of CCs are pragmatic and that same- and cross-person CCs tend to occur in different contexts. In order to test the impact of CCs on other conversational participants, two experiments are presented. These systematically manipulate, for the first time, the occurrence of CCs in live dialogue using text-based communication. The results suggest that syntax does not directly constrain the interpretation of CCs, and the primary effect of a cross-person CC on third
dialogue use compound contribution join party compound contribution dialogue contribution continue complete earlier important common device conversational participant use extend turn organisation cross turn structure defining characteristic natural dialogue cross person provide paradigm_case coordination dialogue combine corpus_analysis theoretical modelling explore use effect coordination implication dialogue model syntactic pragmatic distribution map use corpora ordinary task_oriented dialogue indicates principal factor condition distribution pragmatic same cross person tend occur different_context order_test impact conversational participant present systematically manipulate first_time occurrence live dialogue use text_based communication suggest syntax directly constrain interpretation primary effect cross person third