Speakers, addressees, and frames of reference: Whose effort is minimized in conversations about locations?

Abstract

When speakers describe locations, they must choose among taking their own perspective, their addressee's, a shared frame of reference, and a neutral frame of reference that avoids the issue, among other options. This study examines whether speakers choose spatial perspectives that minimize effort for themselves, for their partners, or for both. It also examines whether perspectives are taken for particular individuals, for the speaker or addressee, or for the person who knows the information to be communicated. Three possible models are proposed for exactly how descriptions in a particular perspective are more difficult when speaker and addressee view a scene from different offsets. In a communication task, speakers described locations on a complex display for addressees who shared their vantage point or were offset by 90° or 180°. In these conversations, both partners either took the perspective of the person who did not know the location or used descriptions that helped them avoid choosing one or the ot...