Conditional responses in information-seeking dialogues

The paper deals with conditional responses of the form "Not if c/Yes if c" in reply to a question "?q" in the context of information-seeking dialogues. A conditional response is triggered if the obtainability of q depends on whether c holds: The response indicates a possible need to find alternative solutions, opening a negotiation in the dialogue. The paper discusses the conditions under which conditional responses are appropriate, and proposes a uniform approach to their generation and interpretation.