ABSTRACT
This paper reports an exploratory study of the grounding functions of instrument plays in dialogue. Grounding theories of dialogue (Clark & Schaefer 1989, Clark 1996, Traum 1994) have been mainly modeled on exchanges in spoken language, and the contributions of non-verbal media to the grounding process are a largely untouched area. We used the Clark-Schaefer contribution model as a core theory, and analyzed six dialogues conducted in joint practice session of a piano duo play. We found that the two general functions of external representations, namely, a cognitive function for personal manipulation of information and a communicative function for interpersonal presentation of information, were co-present and integrated in piano plays in our data.
