The Terms of "You(s)": How the Term of Address Used by Conversational Agents Influences User Evaluations in French and German Linguaculture.

ABSTRACT: Background: Conversational agents (CAs) are a novel approach to delivering digital health interventions. In human interactions, terms of address often change depending on the context or relationship between interlocutors. In many languages, this encompasses T/V distinction-formal and informal forms of the second-person pronoun "You"-that conveys different levels of familiarity. Yet, few research articles have examined whether CAs' use of T/V distinction across language contexts affects users' evaluations of digital health applications. Methods: In an online experiment (N = 284), we manipulated a public health CA prototype to use either informal or formal T/V distinction forms in French ("tu" vs. "vous") and German ("du" vs. "Sie") language settings. A MANCOVA an

SUBMITTER: Ollier J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8767023 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature