Collaboration under uncertainty in unscripted conversations: The role of hedges

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Referential communication tasks explore how speakers convey information and listeners interpret it.
• Hedges, such as 'kinda,' can indicate speaker uncertainty in descriptions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the function of hedges in referential communication.
• To test if hedges signal uncertainty and prompt active listener engagement.

Main Methods:

• A referential communication task involving directors describing geometric shapes (tangrams) to matchers.
• Directors used hedges in descriptions, particularly on initial mentions.
• Matchers' responses were analyzed to assess their understanding and engagement.

Main Results:

• Matchers responded differently to hedged versus unhedged descriptions, confirming the hypothesis.
• Hedges signaled potential difficulty in establishing reference, prompting more active listener confirmation.

Conclusions:

• Hedges serve as a signal of uncertainty, influencing conversational dynamics.
• Partners collaborate to achieve mutual understanding, increasing joint effort when misunderstanding risk is high.