Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities

Yafei Wang; David Reitter; John Yen

Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities

Yafei Wang
, David Reitter
, John Yen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous studies of alignment have focused on two-party conversations. We study multi-party conversation in online health communities, which have shown benefits for their members from forum conversations. So far, our understanding of the relationship between alignment in such multi-party conversations and its possible connection to member benefits has been limited. This paper quantifies linguistic alignment in the oldest and the largest cancer online forum. Alignment at lexical and syntactic levels, as well as decay of alignment was observed in forum threads, although the decay was slower than commonly found in psycholinguistic studies. The different pattern of adaptation to the initial post on a thread suggests that specific roles in the online forum (e.g., seeking support from the community) can potentially be revealed through alignment theory and its extensions.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings
Editors	Vera Demberg, Tim O�Donnell
Publisher	Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)
Pages	55-62
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781941643051
State	Published - 1 Jan 2014
Externally published	Yes
Event	5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Baltimore, United States Duration: 26 Jun 2014 → …

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics
ISSN (Print)	0736-587X

Conference

Conference	5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014
Country/Territory	United States
City	Baltimore
Period	26/06/14 → …

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Science Applications
Linguistics and Language
Language and Linguistics

Cite this

Wang, Y., Reitter, D., & Yen, J. (2014). Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities. In V. Demberg, & T. O�Donnell (Eds.), 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings (pp. 55-62). (Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics). Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL).

Wang, Yafei ; Reitter, David ; Yen, John. / Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads : Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities. 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings. editor / Vera Demberg ; Tim O�Donnell. Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), 2014. pp. 55-62 (Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics).

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title = "Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities",

abstract = "Previous studies of alignment have focused on two-party conversations. We study multi-party conversation in online health communities, which have shown benefits for their members from forum conversations. So far, our understanding of the relationship between alignment in such multi-party conversations and its possible connection to member benefits has been limited. This paper quantifies linguistic alignment in the oldest and the largest cancer online forum. Alignment at lexical and syntactic levels, as well as decay of alignment was observed in forum threads, although the decay was slower than commonly found in psycholinguistic studies. The different pattern of adaptation to the initial post on a thread suggests that specific roles in the online forum (e.g., seeking support from the community) can potentially be revealed through alignment theory and its extensions.",

author = "Yafei Wang and David Reitter and John Yen",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics. All rights reserved.; 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 ; Conference date: 26-06-2014",

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Wang, Y, Reitter, D & Yen, J 2014, Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities. in V Demberg & T O�Donnell (eds), 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), pp. 55-62, 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014, Baltimore, United States, 26/06/14.

Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities. / Wang, Yafei; Reitter, David; Yen, John.
5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings. ed. / Vera Demberg; Tim O�Donnell. Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), 2014. p. 55-62 (Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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T1 - Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads

T2 - 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014

AU - Wang, Yafei

AU - Reitter, David

AU - Yen, John

PY - 2014/1/1

Y1 - 2014/1/1

N2 - Previous studies of alignment have focused on two-party conversations. We study multi-party conversation in online health communities, which have shown benefits for their members from forum conversations. So far, our understanding of the relationship between alignment in such multi-party conversations and its possible connection to member benefits has been limited. This paper quantifies linguistic alignment in the oldest and the largest cancer online forum. Alignment at lexical and syntactic levels, as well as decay of alignment was observed in forum threads, although the decay was slower than commonly found in psycholinguistic studies. The different pattern of adaptation to the initial post on a thread suggests that specific roles in the online forum (e.g., seeking support from the community) can potentially be revealed through alignment theory and its extensions.

AB - Previous studies of alignment have focused on two-party conversations. We study multi-party conversation in online health communities, which have shown benefits for their members from forum conversations. So far, our understanding of the relationship between alignment in such multi-party conversations and its possible connection to member benefits has been limited. This paper quantifies linguistic alignment in the oldest and the largest cancer online forum. Alignment at lexical and syntactic levels, as well as decay of alignment was observed in forum threads, although the decay was slower than commonly found in psycholinguistic studies. The different pattern of adaptation to the initial post on a thread suggests that specific roles in the online forum (e.g., seeking support from the community) can potentially be revealed through alignment theory and its extensions.

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M3 - Conference contribution

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T3 - Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics

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BT - 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings

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PB - Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)

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Wang Y, Reitter D, Yen J. Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities. In Demberg V, O�Donnell T, editors, 5th Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, CMCL 2014 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2014 - Proceedings. Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL). 2014. p. 55-62. (Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics).

Linguistic Adaptation in Conversation Threads: Analyzing Alignment in Online Health Communities

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

UN SDGs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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Cite this