ABSTRACT
This chapter considers whether some global functions might underlie and account for the surface qualities of conversation. I. G. Mattingly, a linguist who studies physical qualities of speech, presents an appealing evolutionary model of how social and intellectual functions might have come together out of two originally independent systems. The judges agreed that different segments of conversation “looked” social or intellectual. Intellectual conversations focus more upon ideas. One effect of this should be to reduce the amount of gaze toward a partner. There were differences in temporal patterning between the intellectual conversations and the earlier social conversations among high and low self-monitors. One application would be to examine the patterns of speech and gaze in persuasive speakers, persons who can talk about intellectual matters in a manner that makes whatever they say acceptable. Time series and spectral techniques were used to contrast the sequential patterning of speech between the intellectual conversations and the earlier social ones.
