Contact:
lpl-equipe-interactions (at) univ-amu . fr
Team contacts:
Maud Champagne-Lavau
Marco Cappellini
Scientific objectives
Linguistic models of the functioning of language have traditionally been based on linguistic examples obtained in controlled situations, quite far from the reality of everyday language. In the last decade, new work has sought to describe language in a more natural context, and in particular that of conversation. These studies focused on descriptions concerning several linguistic domains as well as their interactions: phonetics, prosody, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, mimo-gestural.
In this context, the team’s project aims to develop a language model placing interaction at the heart of the question of linguistic structures. In our approach, conversational interactions are further described in close relation to the way in which language is processed in the speaker’s brain. To meet this objective, several central themes will be addressed. In continuity with the project of the previous five-year period, it will be:
(1) To study phenomena appearing specifically during an interaction between speakers (eg. backchannels, imitation and convergence at the phonetic and discursive levels), in order to analyze the interaction between the different linguistic domains and to understand which linguistic units ( eg. prosodic, syntactic, mimo-gestural units) are the most relevant to reflect these interactions.
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This proposal will include descriptive aspects of speech in interaction. The study of these phenomena will also clarify the role of the common ground of interlocutors in the interaction. Some authors give it a privileged role, the conversation being seen as the collaboration of interlocutors aiming to build shared knowledge based on the knowledge and beliefs of the other. Others, on the contrary, give it a role restricted to situations of incomprehension between the interlocutors. Humor and irony will be key questions for understanding this role of the common ground and for a more global analysis of the (dys) functioning of conversational interactions.
(2) To broaden our knowledge of how language and communicative activities are characterized by the interaction situation.
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For example, this involves studying the characteristics of speech acts in conflicting interactions, or the specifics of exolingual communication in terms of adapting body language or producing supportive sequences. Interaction is also re-examined in its multimodality by the introduction of digital technology, whether it be artefacts (eg. digital tablets in language classes), environments (eg. virtual reality or social networks) or more interfaces (eg. dialogue systems, conversational agents). It will be a question of identifying the characteristics of the interaction, in particular according to the semiotic resources of the environments and their perception. Different approaches will be used, ranging from experimentation to participant observation, gesture studies to the analysis of mediated discourse or human-machine communication. Lastly, these studies will result in new applications, in particular didactic (training of trainers, language learning, training in communication techniques).
(3) To develop tools and methods for the analysis, exploration and annotation of mono- or multimodal data. This involves two complementary movements.
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On the one hand, it will be necessary to model the reality of the interaction in order to capture the variability of the data and enable machine learning from samples of the language. On the other hand, it will be a question of proposing strategies and tools of annotations (automatic, semi-automatic, manual), of representation, of interrogation, of extraction, of classification of multi-annotated data, by considering questions of synchronization, of data fusion. This work will also integrate a multilingual dimension.
Events
Next seminar:
[tba]
[tba]
Next team meeting:
[tba]
[tba]
News
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July 8, 2020: Roxane Bertrand and Noël Nguyen, two members of the Interactions team, have just published an article in “The Conversation France”. Entitled “The Complex Mechanics of Ordinary Conversation” (article in French), the article sheds light on the mechanisms and practices of oral conversation. |
Team members
Please follow the link to the French team page.