Effects of Variable Initiative on Linguistic Behavior in Human-Computer Spoken Natural Language Dialogue

This paper presents an analysis of the dialogue structure of actual human-computer interactions. The 141 dialogues analyzed were produced from experiments with a variable initiative spoken natural language dialogue system organized around the paradigm of the Missing Axiom Theory for language use. Results about utterance classification into subdialogues, frequency of user-initiated subdialogue transitions, regularity of subdialogue transitions, frequency of linguistic control shifts, and frequency of user-initiated error corrections are presented. These results indicate there are differences in user behavior and dialogue structure as a function of the computer's level of initiative. Furthermore, they provide evidence that a spoken natural language dialogue system must be capable of varying its level of initiative in order to facilitate effective interaction with users of varying levels of expertise and experience.

[1]  W. Smith,et al.  Pragmatic Issues in Handling Miscommunication : Observations of aSpoken Natural Language Dialog , 1996 .

[2]  E. Ross.  This English language , 2007 .

[3]  Jean-Charles Marty,et al.  Plan Revision In Person-Machine Dialogue , 1989, EACL.

[4]  James F. Allen,et al.  Deyecting and Correcting Speech Repairs , 1994, ACL.

[5]  Arne Jönsson,et al.  Wizard of Oz studies -- why and how , 1993, Knowl. Based Syst..

[6]  David L. Waltz,et al.  An English language question answering system for a large relational database , 1978, CACM.

[7]  Wayne H. Ward,et al.  High level knowledge sources in usable speech recognition systems , 1989, CACM.

[8]  Candace L. Sidner,et al.  Attention, Intentions, and the Structure of Discourse , 1986, CL.

[9]  Steve Young,et al.  The design and implementation of dialogue control in voice operated database inquiry systems , 1989 .

[10]  Graeme Hirst,et al.  The Repair of Speech Act Misunderstandings by Abductive Inference , 1995, Comput. Linguistics.

[11]  L SidnerCandace,et al.  Attention, intentions, and the structure of discourse , 1986 .

[12]  Steve Whittaker,et al.  Cues and control in Expert-Client Dialogues , 1988, ACL.

[13]  Gary G. Hendrix,et al.  Developing a natural language interface to complex data , 1977, TODS.

[14]  Curry I. Guinn,et al.  Mechanisms for Mixed-Initiative Human-Computer Collaborative Discourse , 1996, ACL.

[15]  David R. Traum,et al.  Book Reviews: Spoken Natural Language Dialogue Systems: A Practical Approach , 1996, CL.

[16]  Robert Wilensky,et al.  The berkeley UNIX consultant project , 1988 .

[17]  Amy Isard,et al.  Transaction and Action Coding in the Map Task Corpus , 1995 .

[18]  Alan W. Biermann,et al.  A Voice- and Touch-Driven Natural Language Editor and its Performance , 1992, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[19]  Chung Hee Hwang,et al.  The TRAINS project: a case study in building a conversational planning agent , 1994, J. Exp. Theor. Artif. Intell..

[20]  Joan Peckham,et al.  Speech Understanding and Dialogue over the Telephone , 1994 .

[21]  Ronnie W. Smith,et al.  A computational model of expectation-driven mixed-initiative dialog processing , 1992 .

[22]  Marilyn A. Walker,et al.  Mixed Initiative in Dialogue: An Investigation into Discourse Segmentation , 1990, ACL.

[23]  James F. Allen,et al.  ARGOT: The Rochester Dialogue System , 1982, AAAI.

[24]  Lynn Lambert,et al.  Modeling Negotiation Subdialogues , 1992, ACL.

[25]  Nigel Gilbert,et al.  Simulating speech systems , 1991 .

[26]  Carole D. Hafner,et al.  Portability of syntax and semantics in DATALOG , 1985, TOIS.

[27]  Susan Brennan,et al.  Interaction and feedback in a spoken language system: a theoretical framework , 1995, Knowl. Based Syst..

[28]  Sharon L. Oviatt,et al.  Predicting spoken disfluencies during human-computer interaction , 1995, Comput. Speech Lang..

[29]  S. Jerrold Kaplan,et al.  Cooperative Responses from a Portable Natural Language Query System , 1982, Artif. Intell..

[30]  Alan W. Biermann,et al.  An Architecture for Voice Dialog Systems Based on Prolog-Style Theorem Proving , 1995, CL.

[31]  Ronnie W. Smith,et al.  Integration of domain problem solving with natural language dialog: the missing axiom theory , 1992, Defense, Security, and Sensing.

[32]  Arne Jönsson,et al.  Wizard of Oz studies: why and how , 1993, IUI '93.

[33]  Steve Whittaker,et al.  User studies and the design of Natural Language Systems , 1989, EACL.

[34]  Robert D. Rodman,et al.  The effects of restricted vocabulary size on voice interactive discourse structure , 1988 .

[35]  James F. Allen,et al.  A Plan Recognition Model for Subdialogues in Conversations , 1987, Cogn. Sci..

[36]  Jeremy Peckham,et al.  Speech understanding and dialogue over the telephone: an overview of progress in the sundial project , 1991, EUROSPEECH.

[37]  Hiroaki Kitano,et al.  Toward a Plan-Based Understanding Model for Mixed-Initiative Dialogues , 1991, ACL.

[38]  Sandra Carberry.  Modeling the User's Plans and Goals , 1988, Comput. Linguistics.

[39]  Stephanie Seneff,et al.  TINA: A Natural Language System for Spoken Language Applications , 1992, Comput. Linguistics.

[40]  Roger K. Moore.  Computer Speech and Language , 1986 .

[41]  John Levine,et al.  PRAGMA - A Flexible Bidirectional Dialogue System , 1990, AAAI.

[42]  Robert E. Frederking.  Integrated natural language dialogue : a computational model , 1988 .

[43]  Morena Danieli,et al.  Metrics for Evaluating Dialogue Strategies in a Spoken Language System , 1996, ArXiv.

[44]  Philip R. Cohen,et al.  Discourse structure and performance efficiency in interactive and non-interactive spoken modalities☆ , 1991 .

[45]  Daniel G. Bobrow,et al.  GUS, A Frame-Driven Dialog System , 1986, Artif. Intell..

[46]  Katharina Morik,et al.  Beyond Domain-Independence: Experience With the Development of a German Language Access System to Highly Diverse Background Systems , 1983, IJCAI.