The Alignment Perspective

1. Approaches to dialogue The Alignment Perspective 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/Referees/

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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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-contextualizedlanguage

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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 doesn‘t 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 mechanismsin 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 doesn‘t 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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 mechanismsin 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: Your‘re 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: Your‘re in the second box. A: One up :(1 sec.) I take it we‘ve got identical mazes? B: Yeah well: