monologue
Enable an agent to recognise a monologue, assess how its sustained single-speaker contribution works, and decide how to prepare, perform, analyse or adapt it.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to recognise a monologue, assess how its sustained single-speaker contribution works, and decide how to prepare, perform, analyse or adapt it.
A monologue is an extended stretch of speech by one speaker, presented in performance, represented in a text, or occurring in conversation, without sustained exchange of speaking turns.
It can be Identify and segment a monologue within a larger conversation or performance.; Map changes in thought, addressee and speaking intention.; Prepare delivery cues for pauses, emphasis, movement and transitions.; Evaluate whether audience responses preserve or transform the single-speaker organisation.; Adapt a monologue to a time limit or audience while tracking changes to voice and meaning.; Compare a delivered instance with its script or an earlier performance..
Distinguishing features
One speaking voice sustains the focal contribution; substantive alternating contributions indicate dialogue or a broader interaction containing a monologue.
The contribution develops a recognisable thought, account or address beyond an isolated utterance; duration alone does not establish the boundary.
A listener may be present, addressed or briefly responsive, so absence of listeners is not a necessary test.
Calling a passage a soliloquy requires additional evidence about its dramatic address and relation to private thought; single-speaker delivery alone does not settle that classification.
A solo performance can include several enacted voices or nonverbal sequences; the number of performers alone does not establish that the entire performance is one monologue.
Scope
+ The boundaries of a sustained single-speaker contribution
+ Speaker, performed persona and intended addressee
+ The progression of thought, narration or persuasion within the contribution
+ Vocal, temporal and embodied delivery
+ Audience response, interruption and conditions for yielding the floor
+ Relations between a monologue, its script and its enclosing performance
- The complete dramatic, literary or audiovisual work containing a monologue
- Script and recording preservation, editions and file formats
- Dialogue organised around substantive exchanges between speakers
- General biographies and psychological assessments of performers
- General venue operations and production management
Characteristics
- Mode of realisation
- live spoken act | recorded spoken act | represented speech | represented inner speech | mixed | unresolved Determines whether the agent can inspect actual delivery or only a representation of it.
- Speaking-voice configuration
- single stable persona | one persona quoting others | performer alternating personas | ambiguous Separates sustained single-voice expression from dialogue enacted by one performer.
- Address relation
- speaker or persona to self, present listener, imagined listener, audience or unspecified addressee Makes references, appeals and expectations of response interpretable.
- Delivered duration
- seconds, with start and end criteria and treatment of pauses stated Supports pacing and performance constraints without imposing a universal minimum length.
- Composition mode
- scripted | outlined | improvised | mixed | unknown Determines what preparation, revision and fidelity checks are appropriate.
- Floor arrangement
- allocated solo turn | negotiated extended turn | self-held turn | represented speech without an interactional floor | unknown Distinguishes an expected solo contribution from a conversational turn whose continuation may be contested.
- Performance readiness
- drafting | rehearsing | ready for specified conditions | in delivery | completed | interrupted Connects preparation and delivery decisions to the actual state of the monologue.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 16 findings · 27 questions.
Monologue boundaries Establishes what counts as the monologue and which sense of the term is being used.
The same label can refer to a spoken act, a dramatic passage or represented thought; an agent must identify the object before judging it.
Single-speaker organisation
Examines how the contribution remains centred on one speaking voice.
Sustained focal contribution
Record the evidence that one voice carries a developed contribution, rather than classifying by performer count or elapsed time alone.
- What makes this a developed single-speaker contribution rather than an isolated line or alternating exchange? definition
- Do quoted voices or enacted characters remain subordinate to one speaker's contribution, or create a dialogue? boundary
Extent and realisation
Locates the contribution and distinguishes its performance from its textual or mental representation.
Instance and endpoints
Record the start and end cues, enclosing context and whether the evidence concerns delivery or representation.
- Which words, actions or turn transitions mark the beginning and end of this monologue? boundary
- Is the available evidence a witnessed delivery, recording, script or representation of inner speech? provenance
Voice and address Identifies who speaks, in what capacity, and to whom the contribution is directed.
A monologue's meaning depends on distinctions between performer, persona, intended listener and actual audience.
Speaker and persona
Separates the delivering person from the voice or character being presented.
Attribution of voice
Track whose words, experiences and claims are presented without automatically attributing a performed persona's statements to the performer.
- Who delivers the monologue, and whose voice or persona do they present? provenance
- Where does the speaker quote, imitate or shift into another voice, and how is that shift signalled? boundary
Addressee and access
Records intended address and who is understood to hear the speech.
Listening configuration
Distinguish actual listeners from imagined or fictional addressees, including situations where an audience hears speech other characters do not.
- To whom is the speaker addressing each part, and does that addressee change? definition
- In a dramatic setting, which characters are understood to hear the speech, and what evidence supports that reading? boundary
Thought and intention Models how the monologue develops through connected thoughts and speaking purposes.
Recognising a monologue requires more than collecting its sentences; an agent needs to follow what the speaker is doing through them.
Speaking purpose
Examines the intended effect of speaking within the specific situation.
Local speaking intentions
Record supported interpretations of intentions such as confessing, entertaining, persuading or thinking aloud, allowing several intentions and uncertainty.
- What does the speaker appear to seek from speaking here, and which words or actions support that interpretation? definition
- Which intentions are explicitly stated, and which are inferred by a reader, performer or observer? provenance
Internal progression
Tracks transitions within the sustained contribution without requiring a conventional story arc.
Thought shifts and ending
Locate changes in topic, temporal perspective, emotional stance or tactic, and distinguish resolution from interruption or deliberate incompletion.
- Where does the speaker change thought, recollection, stance or tactic, and what signals each transition? boundary
- Does the ending resolve the speaking purpose, leave it open or result from an external interruption? definition
Embodied delivery Records how voice, timing and bodily action realise the monologue.
The same words can produce different meanings and performance constraints through delivery.
Voice and timing
Examines pace, silence, articulation and emphasis in a particular delivery.
Pacing and vocal cues
Record observed timing and vocal choices separately from proposed rehearsal directions.
- How long does the delivery last, and where do pauses or changes in speaking rate occur? measurement
- Which changes to emphasis, articulation or pauses could clarify the identified thought transitions? action
Body and performance space
Connects gaze, posture, movement and spatial orientation to the speaking act.
Embodied address cues
Track how bodily choices establish address, mark voice changes or interact with spoken meaning when such evidence is available.
- Which gaze, gesture or movement cues establish who is being addressed or mark a change in persona? definition
- Which delivery choices need adjustment when moving between stage, microphone and camera? action
Interaction and adaptation Handles the monologue's relationship to listener participation and to revised versions.
Monologues can respond to audiences and change across performances while retaining a sustained focal speaker.
Floor and response
Examines the conditions under which the speaker continues, pauses or yields.
Listener participation
Record audience laughter, acknowledgements, questions and interruptions by their effect on the contribution's organisation.
- What arrangement permits the speaker to hold the floor, and what cues invite or permit a response? definition
- Which listener contributions merely punctuate the monologue, and which begin a substantive exchange? boundary
- When a listener intervenes, should the speaker pause, incorporate the response, resume or yield? action
Revision and continuity
Tracks how cuts, improvisation and changes of context affect the monologue.
Adaptation with traceability
Relate each version to its source and assess whether changes preserve the intended voice, address and progression.
- Which script, outline or prior delivery provides the reference for this version, and what has changed? provenance
- What can be cut or rephrased to meet the delivery constraint while preserving necessary thought transitions and address cues? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- No sense was recorded; this account covers the speech form and its established dramatic and literary extensions.
- The boundary between monologue and soliloquy varies across critical and teaching traditions; dramatic monologue also has a narrower meaning in poetry.
- There is no universal minimum duration or word count that makes speech a monologue.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of monologue this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Dramatic monologue
- Soliloquy
- Interior monologue
- Comic monologue
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of monologue this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Revealing a character's motives, memories or conflicts in theatre and screen drama.
- Presenting a fictional speaker whose words reveal character and circumstances in poetry.
- Representing a character's unspoken thoughts in narrative fiction.
- Delivering a sustained comic routine to an audience.
- Demonstrating acting ability in auditions and training.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of monologue this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Losing audience attention through repetition, unclear progression or excessive length.
- Using exposition that does not plausibly fit the speaker or dramatic situation.
- Dominating a conversation and preventing other participants from contributing.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of monologue this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- English usage includes both 'monologue' and 'monolog'; 'monolog' occurs chiefly in American English.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of monologue this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- dialogue - Dialogue develops through exchanges between speakers; a monologue sustains one speaker's contribution.
- soliloquy - A soliloquy is a dramatic monologue that conventionally voices a character's thoughts to themselves or the audience, rather than addressing another character.
- dramatic monologue - In its narrower literary sense, a dramatic monologue presents a fictional speaker addressing an implied listener and revealing character; monologue does not require that structure.
- interior monologue - Interior monologue represents unspoken thought; a performed or conversational monologue consists of audible speech.
- stream of consciousness - Stream of consciousness represents the flow of mental experience, including impressions and associations; interior monologue specifically presents thought in verbal form.
- one-person show - A one-person show is defined by its performer count and may contain multiple characters, music or nonverbal action; monologue is defined by its sustained single-speaker form.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of monologue this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- With no registry definition recorded, should this ACT entry include literary interior monologue directly, or relate to a separate model of represented thought?
- How do theatre, rhetoric and conversation analysis distinguish monologue from soliloquy, speech and an extended conversational turn?
- What contextual evidence establishes sufficient continuity and development to distinguish a monologue from a brief single-speaker utterance?
- When one performer alternates several personas, which conventions support classification as one monologue, several monologues or enacted dialogue?
- Which existing Vercy world model, if any, already owns this concept and should serve as its single publication?