Mare Koit

Questions in estonian information dialogues: form and functions

Questions have been analyzed in Estonian information dialogues with the purpose of finding out the linguistic features that can be used in automatic recognition of various types of questions. Information questions (i.e. the questions that are used for requesting information) and questions that initiate solving communication problems are considered. The study shows which types of questions (wh-question, open and closed yes/no question, question that offers answer, alternative question) are preferred in both cases. The results can be implemented in a dialogue system which performs the role of information provider and interacts with a user in Estonian.

A computational model of argumentation in agreement negotiation processes

The paper describes a computational model that we have implemented in an experimental dialogue system (DS). Communication in a natural language between two participants A and B is considered, where A has a communicative goal that his/her partner B will make a decision to perform an action D. A argues the usefulness, pleasantness, etc. of D (including its consequences), in order to guide Bs reasoning in a desirable direction. A computational model of argumentation is developed, which includes reasoning. Our model is based on the studies in the common-sense conception of how the human mind works in such situations. Theoretical considerations are followed by an analysis of Estonian spoken human–human dialogues. First, calls of clients to travel agencies are studied where a travel agent could use various arguments in order to persuade a client to book a trip. The analysis demonstrates that clients are primarily looking for information; argumentation occurs in a small number of dialogues. Secondly, calls of s...

Processing of requests in estonian institutional dialogues: corpus analysis

The paper analyses, how an information operator processes a customers requests The study is based on the Estonian dialogue corpus Our further aim is to develop a dialogue system (DS) which interacts with a user in Estonian and recognises, interprets and grants a users requests automatically There are two main classes of computational models of the interpretation of dialogue acts – cue-based and inferential-based In this paper, we try to combine these two approaches The corpus analysis demonstrates that a number of linguistic cues can be found which can be used by a DS for recognising requests in Estonian The DS will use linguistic cues in order to recognise a dialogue act type After that, a frame of the act will be activated and filled in in order to interpret (understand) the act and to generate a responding act A simple regular grammar is used for the dialogue management.

Directives in Estonian Information Dialogues

The paper gives an overview of a typology of dialogue acts we use for annotating Estonian spoken dialogues. Our dialogue corpus includes calls for information and to travel agencies (114 annotated dialogues). Directives (request, proposal, offer) and possible reactions are considered in the paper. Our further aim is to develop a dialogue system that will interact with the user in natural language following the norms and rules of human-human communication.

Modelling Debates on the Computer

In the paper, a model of debate is developed which includes a model of argument. When starting interaction, the participants have opposite communicative goals. They are exchanging arguments and counter-arguments and one of them has finally to abandon his or her initial communicative goal, i.e. one participant ‘wins’ and another ‘loses’. An analysis of human-human dialogue corpus is carried out in order to evaluate the suitability of the model for describing natural debates. A computer implementation is introduced. Notions of negotiation, debate and argument are discussed.

Dialogue Management in the Agreement Negotiation Process: A Model that Involves Natural Reasoning

In the paper we describe an approach to dialogue management in the agreement negotiation where one of the central roles is attributed to the model of natural human reasoning. The reasoning model consists of the model of human motivational sphere, and of reasoning algorithms. The reasoning model is interacting with the model of communication process. The latter is considered as rational activity where central role play the concepts of communicative strategies and tactics.

Generating natural language text in a dialog system

The paper deals with generation of natural language text in a dialog system. The approach is based on principles underlying the dialog system TARLUS under development at Tartu State University. The main problems concerned are the architecture of a dialog system and its knowledge base. Much attention is devoted to problems which arise in answering the user queries - the problems of planning an answer, the non-linguistic and linguistic phases of generating an answer.

Modelling Attitudes of Dialogue Participants - Reasoning and Communicative Space.

The paper introduces a dialogue model, concentrating on attitudes of dialogue participants. Two kinds of attitudes are under consideration: (1) attitudes related to different aspects of a negotiation object (in our case, doing an action) which direct reasoning in communication, and (2) attitudes related to a communication partner (dominance-subordination, cooperation-antagonism, communicative distance, etc.) which are modelled by using the concept of communicative space. Telemarketing calls in the Estonian dialogue corpus are analysed in order to illustrate communicative space and to find out linguistic cues for automatic recognition of different coordinates. A limited version of the dialogue model is implemented on

Developing a Formal Model of Argumentation-based Dialogue.

We are considering dialogues in natural language where the participants (A and B) are arguing for and against of doing an action D by B. The participants can have similar or opposite communicative goals. If both A and B have the same goal („B will do D“ or, respectively, „B will not do D“) then they are cooperatively looking for arguments that will eliminate possible obstacles before achieving the goal. If the goals are opposite then the participants exchange arguments and counterarguments and one of them has finally to abandon his or her initial communicative goal. A model of dialogue has being developed which includes a model of argument. An analysis of human-human dialogue corpus is carried out in order to give a preliminary evaluation of the introduced model. A limited version of the model is implemented on the computer. Full implementation is planned as a future work.

Analysing Human-Human Negotiations with the Aim to Develop a Dialogue System

We are studying human-human spoken dialogues in the Estonian dialogue corpus with the aim to design a dialogue system which carries out negotiation with a user in a natural language. Three sub-corpora have been analyzed: (1) telemarketing calls where a sales clerk of an educational company argues for taking a training course by a customer; (2) conversations between a travel agent and a customer who is planning a trip; and (3) everyday conversations where one participant argues for performing an action by the partner. A special case of negotiation – debate where the participants have contradicting communicative goals – has been implemented as an experimental dialogue system.