Computing Perspective in Dialogue - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 191

10.1.4 STAR-0 CONTENT WITH 1 ST AND 2 ND PERSON INDEXICALS

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

S: Paris
T: 1930-07-03
A: J.-P. Sartre
R: S. de Beauvoir
prn: 659

⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤

noun: moi
fnc: write
prn: 659

verb: write
arg: moi toi letter
prn: 659

noun: toi
fnc: write
prn: 659

noun: letter
fnc: write
prn: 659

⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦

This nonlanguage content constitutes a perspective insofar as J.-P. is looking
out towards his current location S, his current moment of time T, himself as an
agent in the world A, and Simone as his partner of discourse R. As indexicals,
moi and toi 5 are defined to point at the A and R values, respectively, of the

STAR-0.
An agent may also register an observation without any self-reference A or
involvement of a recipient R, as in the following example.

10.1.5 STAR-0 CONTENT WITHOUT INDEXICALS
⎡

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎤ ⎡ ⎤

S: Paris
T: 1930-07-03
A: S. de Beauvoir
prn: 572

noun: Fido
fnc: bark
prn: 572

verb: bark
arg: Fido
prn: 572

⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦

In this anchored nonlanguage content, Simone notes that Fido is barking. Be-
cause the content contains no indexical pointing at the R attribute, this feature
may be omitted in the STAR-0 specification.
Alternatively to referring to Fido by name, Simone could have used the 3rd
person index ça , 6 as in the following example:

10.1.6 STAR-0 CONTENT WITH A 3 RD PERSON INDEXICAL

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

S: Paris
T: 1930-07-03
A: S. de Beauvoir
3rd: Fido
prn: 572

⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤

noun: ça
fnc: bark
prn: 572

verb: bark
arg: ça
prn: 572

⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦

In avionics and air traffic control, for example, the anchor would use attributes like ground location,
altitude, speed, and direction ( situation awareness , Endsley et al. 2000, 2003) rather than space, time,
author, and recipient.
4 We are using moi and toi instead of I and you because I is not sufficiently distinctive typographically.
5 In real life, J.-P. Sartre and S. de Beauvoir addressed each other with vous . This relates to the register
of honorifics, which is highly grammaticalized in Korean and Japanese, for example. As a socially
important aspect of perspective, the register of honorifics (politeness) must be integrated into the R
value of the STAR.
6 In the FoCL'99 definition of the STAR, the attribute 3rd providing the referent for the third person
pointer ça was not included because it does not participate directly in anchoring a sign's content. It is
necessary, however, for the interpretation of indexicals like this and indexical (i.e., non-coreferential)
uses of he, she, it , etc. Rather than changing the terminology from STAR to STAR3rd, we will
continue with the simpler term STAR, but use the attribute 3rd and the value ça for third person
indexicals when needed (e.g., 10.1.6).