A method for studying natural language dialogue
John Clayton Thomas · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · 1976
This report describes progress on an experimental technique for studying application-specific dialogues. In this technique, a user interacts via typed messages with a second person who is simulating a computerized natural language interface. The dialogues are all concerned with order-handling and invoicing; however, they are collected in three different situations. The user is variously attempting to describe, understand, or diagnose an order-handling and invoicing system. Preliminary results indicate some of the ways in which the specific user task (pragmatics) influences dialogue features. The importance and compexity of having a natural language interface understand comments about the communicators and the communication itself as illustrated. (Author)