Language variation and mutual adaptation in interactive communication
Putting together psycholinguistic
and sociolinguistic perspectives
This contribution discusses the role of language variation in explaining mutual adaptation in interactive communication. Variability is one of the most fundamental and pervasive facets of language (and other communicative means) and lies at the heart of interactive adaptation – as the variety of linguistic means to express a particular idea that exists within and between communicators both allows for and necessitates adaptation. Examples from both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic approaches to the study of linguistic variation are provided. I argue that the forming new theory of communication needs to combine both perspectives and to build onto empirical results from both lines of research, focusing both on socially meaningful variation and on the individual mechanisms and mental representations involved in linguistic choices.
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Oben, Bert & Geert Brône
2016.
Explaining interactive alignment: A multimodal and multifactorial account.
Journal of Pragmatics 104
► pp. 32 ff.
Vorwerg, Constanze
2015.
Communicative Competence: Linguistic Aspects. In
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences,
► pp. 294 ff.
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