Olga Gerassimenko

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.

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.

The structure of a discontinuous dialogue formed by internet comments

We are studying how a dialogue structure is established by an Internet opinion article and its anonymous comments. We are using the methodology of conversation analysis with the focus on membership categorization analysis. The study shows that the core structure of the dialogue is formed by many parallel micro-dialogues. Besides the linear micro-dialogue structure there is a structure layer which is formed by the complex category sets built by participants using membership categorization of the agents of the article as well as the commentators themselves. We investigate the strategies and the linguistic means used by the participants for creating interrelations in the complex multilayered structure.

From analysis of human-human phone calls to intelligent user interfaces

Estonian institutional phone calls are analysed with the further aim to develop intelligent user interfaces. The analysis is based on the Estonian dialogue corpus. A clientpsilas initial request sets up a goal which will be achieved in collaboration with an official. Information-sharing sub-dialogues are initiated by both participants if either a request or a grant needs to be adjusted. User interfaces which enable to access two different data bases have being implemented. Users can make their requests in Estonian and get answers in synthesized speech.

Cue-Based interpretation of customer’s requests: analysis of estonian dialogue corpus

Estonian spoken human-human information dialogues (calls) have been analyzed with the aim of finding lexical and syntactic cues which can be used for automatic recognition of dialogue acts. We considered a customer’s requests where the goal of the speaker is to get some information or trigger an action by the hearer who is an official person. The corpus analysis demonstrates that a limited number of verbs in a limited number of forms are used to form requests, and there is a difference between general requests which only introduce a topic and exact requests where the speaker has to get certain information or trigger an action by the hearer.

Towards an Intelligent User Interface: Strategies of Giving and Receiving Phone Numbers

Strategies of giving and receiving phone numbers in Estonian institutional calls are considered with the further aim to develop a telephone-based user interface to data bases which enables interaction in natural Estonian language. The analysis is based on the Estonian dialogue corpus. Human operators give long phone numbers in several parts, making pauses after parts. Pitch contour works as a signal of continuation or finishing the process. Clients give feedback during the process (repetition, particles, and pauses). Special strategies are used by clients to finish receiving the number as well as to initiate repairs in the case of communication problems.