Split utterances in dialogue: A corpus study

Abstract:

This paper presents a preliminary English corpus study of split utterances (SUs), single utterances split between two or more dialogue turns or speakers. It has been suggested that SUs are a key phenomenon of dialogue, which this study confirms: almost 20% of utterances were found to fit this general definition, with nearly 3% being the between-speaker case most often studied. Other claims/assumptions in the literature about SUs’ form and distribution are investigated, with preliminary results showing: splits can occur within syn-tactic constituents, apparently at any point in the string; it is unusual for the separate parts to be complete units in their own right; explicit repair of the antecedent does not occur very often. The theoretical con-sequences of these results for claims in the literature are pointed out. The practical implications for dialogue systems are mentioned too.

Research areas:

• Dialogue
• Compound contributions

Year:

2009

Type of Publication:

In Proceedings

Book title:

Proceedings of the 10th Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Discourse and Dialogue (SIGDIAL)

Pages:

262-271

Address:

London, UK

Month:

September