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Experimental Contrastive Pragmatics Using Robots
Authors: Kerstin Fischer and Alicja Depka Prondzinska
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In this paper, we explore how robots can be used to study pragmatic strategies across a number of languages. Robots can assume many of the roles played by human interaction partners in a range of situations. They can be programmed to produce specific behaviours, each time repeating a behaviour in an identical way for as often as necessary. Thus, robots can be useful tools for investigating human behaviour in certain situations and even in cross-cultural contexts. We explore this use of robots in two case studies – one which investigates the delivery of bad news in Danish, German and English, and one which examines the giving of feedback in Danish, German and Polish. In both studies, systematic intercultural differences become apparent in the pragmatic strategies that are adopted. On the basis of the results, we discuss the advantages, potential pitfalls and possible solutions of using robots in the study of contrastive pragmatics.