Phase portrait in conversation processes

Our goal was to extract information on communicative process evolution avoiding simplification and classification. We analysed 50 motivational research interview made from students during their university course. The nature intrinsically interactive of the dialogue concretises, shapes and evolves within time dimension. A reciprocal adaptation, where each partner learns, step by step, to lead in the interlocutor's reference frame, without quitting its own, turns into a common system exceeding those of both fellow. Our approach founds on analogies between conversation processes and chaotic systems: even in conversation, time evolution shapes, defines and characterises the process. During the interaction, the turn alternation is fundamental, specially when the mutual definition of the relationship involves the acknowledgement of different roles. Through word counting, we estimated the " conversation process phase-portrait". This procedure allowed information extraction on the communication evolution: plots with anomalous paths indicate situations where the communication has been troubled from external references.