Talk of times past: On the interaction of cognitive systems in conversation

dc.contributor.advisorLamb, Sydney M.en_US
dc.creatorMeyer, Cynthia Forden_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T00:37:01Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-04T00:37:01Zen_US
dc.date.issued1991en_US
dc.description.abstractThis study considers a corpus of conversational data from a cognitive perspective. The corpus is comprised of a set of dialogues involving a man interviewing his parents about memories of the Oklahoma frontier. The study views this conversation in cognitive terms as a process in which the interlocutors' separate cognitive systems interact by means of the speech signal and change as a result. Cognitive systems are viewed as networks of relationships. It is shown that the consideration of natural conversation yields insights into the cognitive structures and processing of interlocutors, and conversely, that an understanding of cognitive systems is needed to explain surface patterns observable in conversational texts. Several issues concerning the interaction of cognitive systems are addressed. First, the patterning of conversational topic is investigated to discover how the speaker designates topics within his cognitive system and how speaker and listener coordinate their notions of topic. The behavior of cognitive topic is found to be governed by a principle of accessibility. Of all the information in the network that a speaker could designate as topic, that information which is most accessible will be selected. For the addressee, the less accessible a new topic is, the less likely he is to recognize it and the more carefully the speaker must prepare him. Second, two cases of multiple tellings of a single experience are investigated to find what they reveal about how the speaker stores and expresses first-hand information. A continuum of storage types is proposed that is characterized by factors such as the number of times a memory has been related, the fluency of the delivery, and the amount of sensitivity shown to the listener's cognitive needs. Finally, the range of cognitive tasks interlocutors perform as they exchange information is explored. The functions served by statements in a portion of conversation are examined, and it is proposed that statement functions are unified by a protypical function, that of reporting on information present in the speaker's system. An interpretation of the cognitive effect of statements is suggested which recognizes five basic cognitive situations of information exchange in which statements are employed.en_US
dc.format.extent511 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoThesis Ling. 1991 Meyeren_US
dc.identifier.citationMeyer, Cynthia Ford. "Talk of times past: On the interaction of cognitive systems in conversation." (1991) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/16463">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/16463</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/16463en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectLinguisticsen_US
dc.subjectSpeech communicationen_US
dc.titleTalk of times past: On the interaction of cognitive systems in conversationen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentLinguisticsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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