In the paper we describe an approach to dialogue management in the agreement negotiation where one of the central roles is attributed to the model of natural human reasoning. The reasoning model consists of the model of human motivational sphere, and of reasoning algorithms. ...

This paper describes a computational model that we are implementing in an experimental dialogue system. Agreement negotiation process is modelled where one participant is trying to influence his/her partner to agree to do an action. Argumentation is used to direct reasoning of the partner. Our goal is to model natural dialogue where computer as a dialogue participant follows norms and rules of human-human communication.

Interpretation of Yes/No Questions as Metaphor Recognition Tarmo Truu Haldur Õim Mare Koit University of Tartu Liivi 2, Tartu 50409 Estonia {tarmo.truu, haldur.oim, mare.koit}@ut.ee Abstract Estonian institutional phone calls are ana-lyzed with the further aim to develop a ...

Annotatsioon. Käesolev artikkel annab ülevaate sellest, mis seisus on eesti keelega seotud arvutilingvistika ja keeletehnoloogia tartu ülikoolis: milline on uurimistöö temaatika, millised on saavutused ning milliste probleemide ja uurimisülesannetega praegu tegeldakse.

The paper describes a computational model that we have implemented in an experimental dialogue system (DS). Communication in a natural language between two participants A and B is considered, where A has a communicative goal that his/her partner B will make a decision to perform an action D. A argues the usefulness, pleasantness, etc. of D (including its consequences), in order to guide B's reasoning in a desirable direction. A computational model of argumentation is developed, which includes reasoning. Our model is based on the studies in the common-sense conception of how the human mind works in such situations. Theoretical considerations are followed by an analysis of Estonian spoken human-human dialogues. First, calls of clients to travel agencies are studied where a travel agent could use various arguments in order to persuade a client to book a trip. The analysis demonstrates that clients are primarily looking for information; argumentation occurs in a small number of dialogues. Secondly, calls of sales clerks of an educational company to different organisations are analysed where training courses are offered. The sales clerks, unlike the travel agents, try to persuade clients, stressing the usefulness of a course. Finally, face-to-face conversations are studied where one participant is arguing for an action by the partner. The corpus analysis shows that our model covers simple situations occurred in actual dialogues. Therefore, we have chosen a limited application of the model in a DS-communication trainer. The computer can optionally perform A's or B's role and the interaction with the user in Estonian follows norms and rules of human-human communication.

In the paper, a model of debate is developed which includes a model of argument. When starting interaction, the participants have opposite communicative goals. They are exchanging arguments and counter-arguments and one of them has finally to abandon his or her initial communicative goal, i.e. one participant 'wins' and another 'loses'. An analysis of human-human dialogue corpus is carried out in order to evaluate the suitability of the model for describing natural debates. A computer implementation is introduced. Notions of negotiation, debate and argument are discussed.

The paper gives a review of teaching Computational Linguistics (CL) at the University of Tartu. The current curriculum foresees the possibility of studying CL as an independent 4-year subject in the Faculty of Philosophy on the bachelor stage. In connection with the higher education reform in Estonia, new curricula will be introduced from the next study year where the 3-year bachelor stage will be followed by a 2year master's stage. It will then be possible to study CL proceeding from two paths: in the Faculty of Philosophy, and additionally also in the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. This way two types of specialists will be trained who will hopefully be able to complement each other in teamwork .

We compare the phenomena of clausal coordinate ellipsis in Estonian, a Finno-Ugric language, and German, an Indo-European language. The rules underlying these phenomena appear to be remarkably similar. Thus, the software module ELLEIPO, which was originally developed to generate clausal coordinate ellipsis in German and Dutch, works for Estonian as well. In order to extend ELLEIPO's coverage to Estonian, we only had to adapt the lexicon and some syntax rules unrelated to coordination. We describe the language-independent rules for coordinate ellipsis that ELLEIPO applies to non-elliptical syntactic structures in both target languages.

The paper describes a computational model that we are implementing in an experimental dialogue system. Conversation process is modelled where one participant is trying to influence his/her partner to agree to do an action. Our goal is to model natural dialogue where computer as a dialogue participant follows norms and rules of human-human communication. We have worked on different aspects of developing a model of dialogue, including its computer realisation in the lines of BDI model. The main specific traits of our model are: 1) taking into account the "naïve" common-sense reasoning as the basis of dialogue, 2) modelling dialogues where the goal of the initiator is to impose the partner to do a certain action. In the paper we concentrate on the use of frames as the knowledge representation formalism in the dynamic context of dialogue. As a practical realisation of the model we have in view a computer program which we call communication trainer.

This paper describes a computational model that we are implementing in an experimental dialogue system. Agreement negotiation process is modelled where one participant is trying to influence his/her partner to agree to do an action. Argumentation is used to direct reasoning of the partner. Our goal is to model natural dialogue where computer as a dialogue participant follows norms and rules of human-human communication.

Ülevaade. Artiklis tutvustatakse käsilolevat tööd loomuliku inimsuhtluse ühe aspekti, nimelt suhtlusruumi modelleerimise alal. Suhtlussündmuses osalejad paigutavad ennast suhtlusruumis kindlatesse punktidesse, mida iseloomustavad sellised nendevaheliste suhete olulised tunnused nagu suhtluskaugus, koostöövalmidus, viisakus, isiklikkus jne. Inimestevaheliste dialoogide analüüs näitab, kuidas osalejad võivad suhtlussündmuse kestel läbida suhtlusruumi erinevaid punkte. Uurimuse kaugem eesmärk on lülitada suhtlusruumi mudel olemasolevasse eksperimentaalsesse dialoogsüsteemi, selleks et muuta suhtlus arvutiga inimsuhtlusega sarnasemaks.* Võtmesõnad: dialoog, suhtlusruum, inimestevaheline suhtlus, suhtlus arvutiga, konversatsiooniagent, eesti keel * Artikli valmimist on toetanud Eesti Teadusagentuur (projekt IUT20-56 "Eesti keele arvutimudelid").

In the paper we describe an approach to dialogue management in the agreement negotiation where one of the central roles is attributed to the model of natural human reasoning. The reasoning model consists of the model of human motivational sphere, and of reasoning algorithms. ...

This paper describes a computational model that we are implementing in an experimental dialogue system. Agreement negotiation process is modelled where one participant is trying to influence his/her partner to agree to do an action. Argumentation is used to direct reasoning of the partner. Our goal is to model natural dialogue where computer as a dialogue participant follows norms and rules of human-human communication.

Negotiation is a strategic discussion that resolves an issue in a way that both parties find acceptable. Specific forms of negotiation are used in many situations, among them in parliamentary discussions. In this paper we report on a pilot study on verbatim records of sittings held in the Estonian Parliament. The structure of the discussions will be represented by using the dialogue acts of a custom-made typology. It will be compared with the structure of negotiation in everyday life. Our further aim is to create means for automatically recognizing the structure and analysing the contents of parliamentary negotiations and political arguments. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to model Estonian political discussions.

In the paper we describe an approach to dialogue management in the agreement negotiation where one of the central roles is attributed to the model of natural human reasoning. The reasonLng modeI consists of the model of human motivational sphere, and of reasoning algorithms. The reasoning model is interacting with the model of communication process. The latter is considered as rational activity where central role play the concep of communicative strategies and tactics.

Annotatsioon. Semantikauuringutest, mis algasid GGG-s, on artiklis kirjeldatud arengut, mille taustaks oli Chomsky "Süntaksiteooria aspektide" ilmumine 1965. aastal ja sellele järgnenud diskussioon generatiivse semantika esindajatega ning tulemuseks semantika kujunemine täisväärtuslikuks keelekirjeldustasandiks, kus on võimalik kirjeldada mitte ainult sõnade ja lausete, vaid ka sidusate tekstide tähendusi, kasutades predikaatloogika vahendeid. Siitkaudu lülitus keeleteadusesse ka pragmaatika, kus uurimisobjektiks ei ole tekstid, vaid keeleline suhtlus. Teoreetilises keeleteaduses toimus üleminek generatiivsest paradigmast kognitiivsesse, laiemalt funktsionaalsesse paradigmasse. Ka Tartu ülikooli üldkeeleteaduse õppetooli esmaseks teoreetiliseks töösuunaks sai kognitiivne keeleteadus. Selle meetodeid ja mõistestikku hakati kasutama üliõpilaste uurimistöödes doktoritöödeni välja, on kasvanud peale uus teadlaspõlvkond. Alates 2002. aastast on nelja-aastaste vahedega korraldatud konverentse "Teoreetiline keeleteadus Eestis". 2007 asutati Eesti kognitiivse keeleteaduse ühing.