INNOVATION IN TASK ORIENTED COMMUNICATION.
Abstract
The objective of this project was to examine the processes whereby people develop a new language to deal with a distinctively new environment or task. The impetus for this research came from the observation that whenever a new technological development is introduced, the people most closely connected with it--for example, technicians and operators--very rapidly develop a convenient, concise jargon which permits them to express themselves and to cope with whatever the coordinative requirements of the task may be. Typically, of course, this language innovation is based upon a transfer of existing language elements. The present study then is prepared to set up such conditions deliberately and in a controlled way, and to study the determinants of the new language construction as well as to study the form that the language itself takes. The results of this study indicated better performance for the two-way conversation condition. It also indicated differences in stimulus materials: the polygon for which the variations were more pronounced were easier to identify than those in which fine details had to be differentiated. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 30, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0428333
Entities
People
- Thornton B. Roby
Organizations
- Tufts University