Grounding in communication (or common ground) is a concept that has been proposed by Herbert H. Clark and Susan E. Brennan (Clark & Brennan 1991) and that refers to the "mutual knowledge, mutual beliefs, and mutual assumptions" that is essential for communication between two people. Successful grounding in communication requires parties "to coordinate both the content and process." The concept is also common in philosophy of language.
Elements of Theory
editGrounding in Conversation
editContributing to Conversation
editEvidence and Reference
editLeast Collaborative Effort
editGrounding theory challenges the theory of least collaborate effort on three accounts.
- Time Pressures
- Errors
- Ignorance
Grounding in Machine Mediated Communication
editChoice of Medium
editMedia Constraints on Grounding
editClarke and Brannan identify eight constraints mediated communication places on communicating parties.
- Copresence
- Visibility
- Audibility
- Cotemporality
- Simultaneity
- Sequentiality
- Reviewability
- Revisability
References
editClark, Herbert H.; Brennan, Susan E. (1991), "Grounding in communication" (PDF), in Resnick, L. B.; Levine, J. M.; Teasley, J. S. D. (eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition, American Psychological Association, ISBN 1557983763
Stalnaker, R. (2002): Common Ground. In: Linguistics and Philosophy, 25, S. 701-721.