Implicit Referring as an Indication of Familiarity in Face-to-Face and Phone Conversations

A large body of research shows that familiarity between speakers makes their use of referring expressions more effective. This paper presents two studies that suggest that it’s also the other way around, i.e. effective referring, in this case implicit referring, suggests a relation between the speakers. Further, a third study, based on naturalistic observations of both work and private conversation, shows that implicit referring is used less when conversation is mediated by phone. Together the results indicate that the “distance” or “alienation” often felt in phone conversations could be the result of subtle changes in the way we speak rather than reduction in transmitted information compared to face-to-face conversations.