Abstract
In a conversation among several people repeated shifts in the role of 'speaker' and 'addressee' may occur, partly at random (as when a new topic of conversation is started by any one of the participants, who thus becomes the new speaker), partly according to rule (as when a participant responds to a question or comment directed toward him). 'Interruption' or 'rudeness' can then be regarded as a violation of rule. This paper studies the semiotic relation among (a) the social elements of a concrete conversational exchange, (b) the linguistic rules, tacit or explicit, underlying such conversation, and (c) mathematical formalism describing the rules. The structure of THREE-person conversations has been studied in some detail by Pike (unpublished) from a more mathematical point of view, and by Wise and Lowe (1969) from a more linguistic point of view. I extend Pike's formalism in order to handle rules for η-person conversations, n being an arbitrary positive integer.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
