Abstract
This paper describes an implemented computational model that generates intonation contours for dialogue systems. We concentrate on the relationship between pragmatics and two aspects of intonation: pitch range and pitch accent placement. Pitch range is computed based on the position of an utterance in the discourse structure: utterances that introduce a new topic have an expanded register compared to utterances that continue a topic. Pitch accent placement is based on two pragmatic factors: cognitive status (what the speaker assumes the hearer is attending to) and informativeness (what the speaker assumes to be the interesting or informative component of a phrase). This work suggests that even simple models of discourse topic structure, cognitive status, and informativeness will lead to improved register determination and pitch accent placement in practical conversational systems.
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Delin, J., Zacharski, R. Pragmatic determinants of intonation contours for dialogue systems. Int J Speech Technol 1, 109–120 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02277192
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02277192