Levels of participation for multiparty dialogue

I thought that we might be able to extend the Lee’s model for multiple people interacting at the same time.

The following figure is one of the most famous models

Goffman, E.(1981). Forms of talk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Clark, H. H.(1996) Using language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The challenge: participation-role assignment

1. It is easy to identify Speaker.
2. It is hard to distinguish who is Addressee from who is (are) Side participant(s).

In order to address the latter challenge, perhaps we can use “extended proxeimic information”.

• distance
• orientation
• identify (age, gender, personality, background, etc.)
  
• density (the number of people)
• gesture
• eye gaze
  
• face expression
• having large luggage, stick, etc.
  
• having a cough
• having personal digital devices (focusing on the device)
• and so on