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Language as a Tool for Interacting Minds
Author(s) -
TYLÉN KRISTIAN,
WEED ETHAN,
WALLENTIN MIKKEL,
ROEPSTORFF ANDREAS,
FRITH CHRIS D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2009.01379.x
Subject(s) - metaphor , cognitive science , joint attention , action (physics) , perspective (graphical) , social relation , computer science , psychology , sociology , epistemology , linguistics , social psychology , artificial intelligence , autism , developmental psychology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
What is the role of language in social interaction? What does language bring to social encounters? We argue that language can be conceived of as a tool for interacting minds, enabling especially effective and flexible forms of social coordination, perspective‐taking and joint action. In a review of evidence from a broad range of disciplines, we pursue elaborations of the language‐as‐a‐tool metaphor, exploring four ways in which language is employed in facilitation of social interaction. We argue that language dramatically extends the possibility‐space for interaction, facilitates the profiling and navigation of joint attentional scenes, enables the sharing of situation models and action plans, and mediates the cultural shaping of interacting minds.