Experimental Approaches to Referential Domains and the On-Line Processing of Referring Expressions in Unscripted Conversation
by
Sarah Brown-Schmidt 1,* and Agnieszka E. Konopka 2
Sarah Brown-Schmidt 1,* and Agnieszka E. Konopka 2
1
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E Daniel St. Champaign, IL 61820, USA
2
Max Plank Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, The Netherlands
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Information 2011, 2(2), 302-326; https://doi.org/10.3390/info2020302
Received: 8 February 2011 / Revised: 8 March 2011 / Accepted: 28 April 2011 / Published: 6 May 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cognition and Communication)
This article describes research investigating the on-line processing of language in unscripted conversational settings. In particular, we focus on the process of formulating and interpreting definite referring expressions. Within this domain we present results of two eye-tracking experiments addressing the problem of how speakers interrogate the referential domain in preparation to speak, how they select an appropriate expression for a given referent, and how addressees interpret these expressions. We aim to demonstrate that it is possible, and indeed fruitful, to examine unscripted, conversational language using modified experimental designs and standard hypothesis testing procedures.
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Keywords:
conversation; modification; scalar; eye-tracking; production; comprehension
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
MDPI and ACS Style
Brown-Schmidt, S.; Konopka, A.E. Experimental Approaches to Referential Domains and the On-Line Processing of Referring Expressions in Unscripted Conversation. Information 2011, 2, 302-326.
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