Elsevier

Journal of Pragmatics

Volume 42, Issue 9, September 2010, Pages 2355-2368
Journal of Pragmatics

Linguistic alignment between people and computers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.012Get rights and content

Abstract

There is strong evidence that when two people talk to each other, they tend to converge, or align, on common ways of speaking (e.g., Pickering and Garrod, 2004). In this paper, we discuss possible mechanisms that might lead to linguistic alignment, contrasting mechanisms that are encapsulated within the language processing system, and so unmediated by beliefs about the interlocutor, with mechanisms that are mediated by beliefs about the interlocutor and that are concerned with considerations of either communicative success or social affect. We consider how these mechanisms might be implicated in human–computer interaction (HCI), and then review recent empirical studies that investigated linguistic alignment in HCI. We argue that there is strong evidence that alignment occurs in HCI, but that it differs in important ways from that found in interactions between humans: It is generally stronger and has a larger mediated component that is concerned with enhancing communicative success.

Section snippets

Holly Branigan is Reader in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She holds a BA in Language and Linguistic Science from the University of York, and an MSc and PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on language production in adults and children, with a particular interest in syntactic processing and representation; other research areas include language use in dialogue, human–computer interaction, and dyslexia.

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    • Cited by (0)

    Holly Branigan is Reader in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She holds a BA in Language and Linguistic Science from the University of York, and an MSc and PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on language production in adults and children, with a particular interest in syntactic processing and representation; other research areas include language use in dialogue, human–computer interaction, and dyslexia.

    Martin Pickering is Professor of the Psychology of Language and Communication in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He has published extensively in language comprehension, language production, dialogue, bilingualism, and the relationship between psychology and linguistics.

    Jamie Pearson is a senior information analyst and statistician at the Information Services Division, NHS National Services Scotland. He earned his BA in Psychology at the University of Liverpool and his PhD in psycholinguistics at Durham University.

    Janet Mclean is a research fellow of the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She earned a BSc in Maths and Psychology at the Newcastle University, and a PhD in Psychology from Lancaster University. Her research focuses on dialogue and language production in both children and adults.

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