The Role of the Listener: Addressee Influences on Message Formulation

Abstract

Psycholinguistic models tend to depict speech production as a unidirectional process in which speakers create messages for generic addressees. Missing from such characterisations is an analysis of the process by which addressees influence the form and content of messages created for them. Addressees affect message form and content in at least two ways: (1) Their personal characteristics help define the common ground they share with the speaker and, hence, the knowledge the speaker can draw upon in formulating messages; (2) In conversation, their on-line responses serve to inform the speaker about changes in their knowledge state and, hence, about the communicative effectiveness of the messages transmitted. A series of experiments illustrating these processes is described.