Computing Perspective in Dialogue - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 204

The result codes the perspective of the questioner Simone as speaker, except
for the prn value, here 669 , which is assigned by the answerer J.-P. as hearer.
Before storage in J.-P.'s Word Bank, Simone's speaker perspective coded as
poem is about moi ? must be revised into the perspective of the answerer as
hearer, coded as poem is about toi ? . The latter is represented as the following
set of proplets:

10.5.3 A NSWERER AS HEARER : REVISED PERSPECTIVE OF 10.5.2
⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

noun: poem
cat: snp
sem: indef sg
fnc: about toi
prn: 669

verb: about toi
cat: be' interrog
sem: pres
arg: poem
prn: 669

S: Paris
T: 1930-07-04
A: J.-P. Sartre
R: Simone de B.
prn: 669

The revision of perspective, i.e., the change of moi into toi and the concomi-
tant exchanges of the A and R values in the STAR-2, is based on a STAR-2
inference like 10.4.5.
At this point, J.-P. understands Simone's question and experiences an imbal-
ance similar to the one which caused Simone to ask the question in the first
place. To reestablish his homeostasis, J.-P. replaces the prn value 669 with a
variable, e.g., K . This turns the revised STAR-2 content 10.5.3 into a schema
which allows J.-P. to search his recent memory for a matching content (Sect.
6.5, automatic schema derivation.)
A successful retrieval triggers a positive answer in J.-P.'s mind and switches
the answerer from a hearer to a speaker. After stoking his pipe, J.-P. replies:

10.5.4 A NSWERER J.-P. AS SPEAKER

Ye s . STAR − 1
With this utterance, the answerer regains his equilibrium, but Simone must
still do a hear mode derivation (questioner as hearer) and combine the result
with the anchored content 10.5.1 as a STAR-1 content, represented as a set of
proplets. This is based on a STAR-2 inference like 10.4.10; it replaces the cat
value interrog of the verb with decl and assigns a new prn value.

10.6 Dialogue with Request and Its Fulfillment

The third kind of basic dialogue besides statement and question dialogue is
request dialogue. For example, Simone notes that her cigarette is about to be
finished. Her need to dispose of the stub brings forth a slight imbalance, caus-
ing the following STAR-0 content to emerge as a countermeasure: