Macchine parlanti o macchine apprendenti? Osservazioni preliminari sull’uso dell’etero-ripetizione in produzioni di chatbot e nell’interlingua

Ciccolone, Simone

First

;Grosso, Giulia Isabella

Second

2022-01-01

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Abstract

In this paper we will present some preliminary observations on written interactions between chatbots designed for «providing realistic simulations of casual conversation (or small talk)» (McTear et al. 2016: 52) and their human users. We will in particular point at possible strategic uses of rep-etitions of the user’s input and compare them with the conversational functions of repetition in the output of L2 speakers. As observed in Pallotti (1999), repetition of fragments of the interlocutor’s turn is often used by L2 speakers as a participation strategy. We will compare examples of this ap-propriation mechanism in the uses of Italian L2 speakers (through a selection of the data in Grosso 2015) and of chatbots.