Have you ever had to clarify what someone meant when they said something vague? It turns out that when it comes to language, we adapt and align our interpretations with those of our conversation partners. This phenomenon, known as semantic alignment, has been previously observed with terms like quantifiers and uncertainty expressions. However, researchers wanted to explore if active linguistic interaction played a role in this adaptation process. In a study focusing on gradable adjectives like ‘big’ and ‘small,’ participants were given the opportunity to ask clarification questions to better understand their interlocutor’s interpretation. The results showed that participants did rely on this strategy when unsure, even though it required additional cognitive effort. Interestingly, semantic alignment improved in terms of communicative success when speakers asked questions. As the interaction progressed, speakers also became more skilled at asking informative questions. However, the study found that the level of semantic alignment did not increase over time, suggesting that conversation helps coordination but does not lead to long-term semantic updates. These findings provide new insights into how speakers achieve semantic alignment and how language evolves through communication. To dive deeper into this fascinating research, check out the full article!

Abstract
When communicating, people adapt their linguistic representations to those of their interlocutors. Previous studies have shown that this also occurs at the semantic level for vague and context-dependent terms such as quantifiers and uncertainty expressions. However, work to date has mostly focused on passive exposure to a given speaker’s interpretation, without considering the possible role of active linguistic interaction. In this study, we focus on gradable adjectives big and small and develop a novel experimental paradigm that allows participants to ask clarification questions to figure out their interlocutor’s interpretation. We find that, when in doubt, speakers do resort to this strategy, despite its inherent cognitive cost, and that doing so results in higher semantic alignment measured in terms of communicative success. While not all question–answer pairs are equally informative, we show that speakers become better questioners as the interaction progresses. Yet, the higher semantic alignment observed when speakers are able to ask questions does not increase over time. This suggests that conversational interaction’s key advantage may be to boost coordination without committing to long-term semantic updates. Our findings shed new light on the mechanisms used by speakers to achieve semantic alignment and on how language is shaped by communication.

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