Computational modelling of structural priming in dialogue

Syntactic priming effects, modelled as in-crease in repetition probability shortly af-ter a use of a syntactic rule, have the potential to improve language processing components. We model priming of syn-tactic rules in annotated corpora of spo-ken dialogue, extending previous work that was confined to selected construc-tions. We find that speakers are more re-ceptive to priming from their interlocutor in task-oriented dialogue than in spona-neous conversation. Low-frequency rules are more likely to show priming.