Common Ground and Real-Time Language Comprehension: The Authorship Effect

Dr. Stanka A Fitneva 
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

 

It is widely accepted that linguistic meaning derives from social conventions, yet the role of common ground in language processing is controversial. In this talk I will examine the scope and limitations of the authorship effect, i.e., how the social identity of the message author influences on-line disambiguation processes. Unlike previous research which has examined personal common ground (consisting of conventions developed with one's interlocutor), this research reverts to the more common understanding that language is built around community-wide conventions. The findings provide strong support for common ground effects in comprehension.