Clara Lachenmaier

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About

Clara Lachenmaier is a researcher whose work sits at the fascinating intersection of human-robot interaction and sociolinguistics, exploring how the fundamental rules of human conversation adapt when we speak to machines. Her primary research areas focus on politeness theory, social robotics, and the nuanced ways humans anthropomorphize technology. In her most-cited work, "Indirect Politeness of Disconfirming Answers to Humans and Robots" (2023, 6 citations), Lachenmaier tackles a compelling question: do people soften their language for robots the way they do for other humans? Her research reveals the subtle, often contradictory ways we apply social niceties—like indirectness and face-saving—to artificial agents, challenging the assumption that politeness is purely a human-to-human phenomenon. This work is pivotal for designing more natural and socially aware conversational AI, as it uncovers the implicit expectations users bring to robot interactions. By bridging linguistics and robotics, Lachenmaier is helping to shape how we build machines that can navigate the delicate social choreography of human communication.