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Modelling English conversations

Published: 04 June 1973 Publication History

Abstract

A notable if limited degree of success has been obtained in natural language question answering systems as seen in such examples as Woods' Lunar Data Base Model and Winograd's natural language controlled hand. Most of the conversational capabilities of these systems take the form of answering questions or accepting data. Colby's recent simulation of a paranoid personality offers a freer form of conversation although the model's understanding of English is very limited. Computer based teaching systems often include a tree of conversational responses to student questions and answers but these are highly specific to exactly predictable contexts.
Our current research is concerned with modelling general conversations in English. The models may be textbased, based on a structured model of information, or a combination of these. A basic babbler accepts an input statement in restricted English, analyzes it to find matching text or data in its model, and responds with something relevant to the input. The babbler adds information to its model when input sentences are given it. The question of what is relevant as a response is the interesting line of the research. The babbler is given purposes---such as to present some given set of information. It is given some capability to model the speaker, to remember what has been said, and an ability to evaluate connotative aspects of the meanings of words. These features allow it to select a conversational response as a function of its purposes, its model of the speaker, and the denotative and connotative meanings of the input sentence. The main emphasis of the research is to discover how to present lesson material in a computer controlled conversational system.

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AFIPS '73: Proceedings of the June 4-8, 1973, national computer conference and exposition
June 1973
936 pages
ISBN:9781450379168
DOI:10.1145/1499586
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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 04 June 1973

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