Computing Perspective in Dialogue - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 202

10.4.10 STAR-2.4 CONNECTING WH INTERROGATIVE WITH ANSWER
⎡
⎣

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎤
⎦

S: L
T: D
A: N
R: O
prn: K

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤

verb: α

cat: interrog
arg: { X toi what}
prn: K

noun: β

fnc: decl
mdr:

noun: what
fnc:

adj: γ

mdd:

⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⇒

α
prn: K

β
prn: K+M

+

γ
prn: K+M

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

S: L
T: D
A: N
R: O
prn: K+1

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

verb: α
cat: decl
arg: { X toi β }
prn: K+1

noun: β
mdr: γ
fnc: α
prn: K+M

adj: γ
mdd: β
prn: K+M

The inference fills the wh gap in the question by replacing the what pattern
proplet with the noun of the answer, including an optional pattern proplet for
an adnominal modifier. The cat value interrog in the input verb is changed to
decl in the output. The func value decl of the input answer noun is changed
to the core value of the verb in the output. The result of applying this inference
to the inputs 10.4.2 and 10.4.8 is as follows:

10.4.11 Q UESTIONER ' S STAR-2 CONTENT FOR REGAINING BALANCE

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

verb: write
cat: decl
sem: past
arg: toi poem
prn: 625+2

S: Paris
T: 1930-07-04
A: Simone de B.
R: J.-P. Sartre
prn: 625+2

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

noun: poem
fnc: write
mdr: little
prn: 625+2

noun: toi
fnc: write
prn: 625+2

adj: little
mdd: poem
prn: 625+2

The input prn value 625 is incremented by 2 because between Simone's pro-
duction of the question content 10.4.2 and the content of 10.4.11, there is Si-
mone's interpretation of J.-P.'s answer, as shown in 10.4.9.

10.5 Dialogue with a Yes/No Question and Its Answer

WH questions may request noun values, as in What did you write? , or adjec-
tive values, as in Why did you go? (cause), Where did you stay? (location),
How did you sleep? (manner), and When did you leave? (time). They all
conform to the time-linear structure of question-answer sequences (10.6.7),
and their DBS analysis closely resembles that shown in the previous section
for a WH question with a noun answer.
Unlike WH questions, yes/no questions request a choice between only two
values, namely yes and no , in their various guises. For example, after J.-P.'s
answer A little poem. , Simone's curiosity is not yet completely satisfied.
As a potential countermeasure, the following nonlanguage STAR-0 content
emerges in her mind: