Dartmouth Events

Please join us on Friday, October 23, 2020, at 3:30 p.m., for a virtual colloquium given by Herbert H. Clark, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.

Title:  Conversation Beyond Language

Abstract:  For many in cognitive science, the fundamental, or only, way we communicate is with language. But in face-to-face conversation, we couldn’t succeed without indicating things around us, e.g., with our fingers, gaze, or nods. We also couldn’t succeed without depicting things with our hands, arms, head, face, eyes, voice, and body, with and without props. In this talk I will focus on spontaneous depictions. These include spoken and gestural quotations, iconic gestures, facial expressions, full-scale demonstrations, and even children’s make-believe play. Although we can use depictions on their own, we typically combine them with what we are saying in words. Depictions pose two challenges for cognitive science. First, what are depictions, and how do we produce and interpret them? And second, in conversation, how do we combine speaking, indicating, and depicting in successful communication?

Zoom details will be forthcoming.