Conversation

by abdo Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:14 am

Conversation is interactive, more-or-less spontaneous, communication between two or more conversants. Interactivity occurs because contributions to a conversation are response reactions to what has previously been said. Spontaneity occurs because a conversation must proceed, to some extent, and in some way, unpredictably. (Contrast with a scripted conversation, which falls outside this definition.) (However, the scope of that spontaneity may legitimately be somewhat pre-limited for the purpose of expediency, e.g. a talk show or a debate.)
Conversations are sometimes the ideal form of communication, depending on the conversants' intended ends. Conversations may be ideal when, for example, each party desires a relatively equal exchange of information, or when one party desires to question the other. (On the other hand, if permanency, or the ability to review such information is important, written communication may be ideal. Or if time-efficiency is most important, a speech may be preferable.) For a successful conversation, the partners must achieve a workable balance of contributions. A successful conversation includes mutually interesting connections between the speakers or things that the speakers know. For this to happen, those engaging in conversation must find a topic on which they both can relate in some sense.