An Inference-Based Approach to the Interpretation of Discourse
Bernd Ludwig, Günther Görz, Heinrich Niemann · 2000
In the present paper, we describe a theoretical approach to the interpretation of utterances in spoken language dialogue systems. We also hint at our implementation of a prototype dialogue system that realizes the outlined approach. The paper draws a comparison with keyword spotting techniques and shows how the need for more complex inference processes evolves from problems that remain unsolved within the framework of keyword spotting. A partial logic is introduced that is used for semantic interpretation and dialogue strategy selection. Finally, a DRT-based approach to constructing semantic representations used as input to the dialogue manager is also presented. 1 Introduction In order to provide the motivation for the integration of inference procedures in the interpretation of utterances in spoken dialogue systems, we will discuss an example of a natural language interface to a database. We will contrast an approach based on keyword spotting and parameter slot filling to a more com...