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Knowledge of pragmatic conversational structure
1University College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
|November 5, 1997
Summary
Participants rated naturally occurring conversations as most natural. This suggests an implicit understanding of conversational pragmatic structure influences language comprehension.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Science
- Sociolinguistics
Background:
- Conversational pragmatic structure guides natural dialogue.
- Understanding how people perceive conversational flow is key to language comprehension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate implicit knowledge of conversational pragmatic structure.
- To determine if naturally occurring conversations are perceived as more natural than reconstructed ones.
Main Methods:
- 53 female volunteers rated three versions of a beauty salon appointment-making conversation.
- Versions included the original natural conversation and two reconstructions.
Main Results:
- The naturally occurring conversation was rated significantly more natural than reconstructed versions.
- Statistical analysis (chi-square test, standardized deviates) supported this finding.
Conclusions:
- Implicit knowledge of conversational pragmatic structure influences the perception of naturalness.
- This knowledge likely plays a role in language comprehension processes.