Kurhila2023

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Kurhila2023
BibType INCOLLECTION
Key Kurhila2023
Author(s) Salla Kurhila, Lari Kotilainen
Title Computer as a conversational partner: responding to the uncomprehending computer
Editor(s) Aino Koivisto, Heidi Vepsäläinen, Mikko T. Virtanen
Tag(s) EMCA, human-computer interaction
Publisher Finnish Literature Society
Year 2023
Language English
City Helsinki
Month
Journal
Volume
Number
Pages 239–258
URL Link
DOI 10.21435/sflin.22
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title Conversation Analytic Perspectives to Digital Interaction: Practices, Resources, and Affordances
Chapter

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Abstract

This chapter explores a particular type of human-computer interaction, namely situations where people respond verbally to the turns by a computer, even though the computer lacks a voice recognition function. The data come from a computer-mediated learning environment (LanCook), in which the human participants follow the instructions given by a computer that can produce verbal turns as output but cannot process verbal turns as input. In particular, the chapter focuses on first pair parts of adjacency pairs (questions, compliments) produced by the computer, which project a second pair part as the next relevant turn in human interaction. By examining the verbal and multimodal responses the computer’s turns evoke from the human participants, the analysis shows that the computer’s first pair parts do not have a similar projection for a second pair part; the absence of a second pair part is not a “noticeable absence”, as it does not have trajectories in the progress of the subsequent sequence. However, occasionally the human participants respond to the turns by the computer. By answering the computer’s questions, the speaker can stage the computer as an alleged interactional partner, thereby enacting a performance in which the computer is credited with a role as a conversational partner with interactional rights and responsibilities. Including the uncomprehending computer in a conversation as an interactional partner becomes a resource for performative actions for the users. It will be shown how the users, by responding to the computer’s turns, add a layer of performativity into their mutual interaction.

Notes