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Alignment as the Basis for Successful Communication

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Research on Language and Computation

Abstract

Pickering and Garrod (2004) argued that alignment is the basis of successful communication in dialogue. In other words, successful communication goes hand-in-hand with the development of similar representations in the interlocutors. But what exactly does this mean? In this paper, we attempt to define alignment, contrasting alignment of situation models with alignment of linguistic representations. We then speculate on how these notions are related and why they lead to conversational success

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK

    Martin J. Pickering

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Simon Garrod

Authors
  1. Martin J. Pickering
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  2. Simon Garrod
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Correspondence to Martin J. Pickering.

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Pickering, M.J., Garrod, S. Alignment as the Basis for Successful Communication. Research Language Computation 4, 203–228 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11168-006-9004-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11168-006-9004-0

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