RUI: Interpersonal Underpinnings of Language Use

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The goal of the proposed research is to increase understanding of the social psychological underpinnings of language production and comprehension. A major focus of this research will be on conversational indirectness. People frequently convey their meaning indirectly, and the phenomenon has important implications for both cognitive psychology and social psychology. Most previous research on indirectness has examined requests, a relatively unique type of remark. The present proposal will extend this research by examining the production and comprehension of utterances that function as replies. Several experiments will be conducted to examine six general issues. First, how can speakers respond indirectly to questions and requests? Second, how are indirect replies interpreted, and what role does the interpersonal context play in this process? Third, does the comprehension of indirect replies involve an inference process, or are these remarks recognized in a relatively automatic fashion? Fourth, what is the role played by paralinguistic cues such as response hesitation in the comprehension of indirect replies? Fifth, do hearers make any other inferences as a function of a speaker's remarks, and if so how do they do so? Sixth, do people differ in terms of how they comprehend the meaning of others' remarks? The research will shed new light on interpersonal relationships, and the unique role of language in how people understand and interact with one another.