On making syntax dynamic: The challenge of compound utterances and the architecture of the grammar

Abstract:

The Pickering and Garrod model (2013) represents a significant advance within the language-as-action paradigm in providing a mechanistic non-inferential account of dialogue. However, we suggest that, in maintaining several aspects of the language-as-product tradition, it does not go far enough in addressing the dynamic nature of the mechanisms involved. We argue for a radical extension of the language-as-action account, showing how compound-utterance phenomena necessitate a grammar-internal characterization which can only be met with a shift of perspective into one in which linguistic knowledge is seen as procedural. This shift provides a more psychologically plausible model of language-in-use, a basis for allowing intentions and speech-acts to be co-constructed, as well as a computationally tractable basis for dialogue models.

Research areas:

• Dialogue
• Compound contributions
• Dynamic Syntax

Year:

2013

Type of Publication:

In Collection

Book title:

Alignment in Communication: Towards a New Theory of Communication

Publisher:

John Benjamin

Editor:

Ipke Wachsmuth and Jan de Ruiter and Petra Jaecks and Stefan Kopp

Pages:

57-85

ISBN:

978-90-27204-60-8