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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:
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
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