Disambiguating the functions of conversational sounds with prosody: the case of 'yeah'

Khiet Phuong Truong; Dirk K.J. Heylen

Disambiguating the functions of conversational sounds with prosody: the case of 'yeah'

Khiet Phuong Truong, Dirk K.J. Heylen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

168 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this paper, we look at how prosody can be used to automatically distinguish between different dialogue act functions and how it determines degree of speaker incipiency. We focus on the different uses of 'yeah'. Firstly, we investigate ambiguous dialogue act functions of 'yeah': 'yeah' is most frequently used as a backchannel or an assessment. Secondly, we look at the degree of speakership incipiency of 'yeah': some 'yeah' items display a greater intent of the speaker to take the ﬂoor. Classi﬿cation experiments with decision trees were performed to assess the role of prosody: we found that prosody indeed plays a role in disambiguating dialogue act functions and in determining degree of speaker incipiency of 'yeah'.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of Interspeech 2010
Publisher	International Speech Communication Association
Pages	2554-2557
Number of pages	4
Publication status	Published - Sept 2010
Event	11th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH 2010 - Makuhari, Chiba, Japan Duration: 26 Sept 2010 → 30 Sept 2010 Conference number: 11 http://www.interspeech2010.jpn.org/

Publication series

Name
Publisher	International Speech Communication Association (ISCA)
ISSN (Print)	1990-9772

Conference

Conference	11th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH 2010
Abbreviated title	INTERSPEECH
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Makuhari, Chiba
Period	26/09/10 → 30/09/10
Internet address	http://www.interspeech2010.jpn.org/

Keywords

METIS-271082
Backchannel
Classification
IR-74047
Prosody
speaker incipiency
dialogue act
HMI-SLT: Speech and Language Technology
EWI-18626

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@inproceedings{95196e32dd62471ebdafd8686b4a4b5a,

title = "Disambiguating the functions of conversational sounds with prosody: the case of 'yeah'",

abstract = "In this paper, we look at how prosody can be used to automatically distinguish between different dialogue act functions and how it determines degree of speaker incipiency. We focus on the different uses of 'yeah'. Firstly, we investigate ambiguous dialogue act functions of 'yeah': 'yeah' is most frequently used as a backchannel or an assessment. Secondly, we look at the degree of speakership incipiency of 'yeah': some 'yeah' items display a greater intent of the speaker to take the ﬂoor. Classi﬿cation experiments with decision trees were performed to assess the role of prosody: we found that prosody indeed plays a role in disambiguating dialogue act functions and in determining degree of speaker incipiency of 'yeah'.",

keywords = "METIS-271082, Backchannel, Classification, IR-74047, Prosody, speaker incipiency, dialogue act, HMI-SLT: Speech and Language Technology, EWI-18626",

author = "Truong, {Khiet Phuong} and Heylen, {Dirk K.J.}",

year = "2010",

month = sep,

language = "English",

publisher = "International Speech Communication Association",

pages = "2554--2557",

booktitle = "Proceedings of Interspeech 2010",

address = "France",

note = "11th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH 2010, INTERSPEECH ; Conference date: 26-09-2010 Through 30-09-2010",

url = "http://www.interspeech2010.jpn.org/",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - Disambiguating the functions of conversational sounds with prosody: the case of 'yeah'

AU - Truong, Khiet Phuong

AU - Heylen, Dirk K.J.

N1 - Conference code: 11

PY - 2010/9

Y1 - 2010/9

N2 - In this paper, we look at how prosody can be used to automatically distinguish between different dialogue act functions and how it determines degree of speaker incipiency. We focus on the different uses of 'yeah'. Firstly, we investigate ambiguous dialogue act functions of 'yeah': 'yeah' is most frequently used as a backchannel or an assessment. Secondly, we look at the degree of speakership incipiency of 'yeah': some 'yeah' items display a greater intent of the speaker to take the ﬂoor. Classi﬿cation experiments with decision trees were performed to assess the role of prosody: we found that prosody indeed plays a role in disambiguating dialogue act functions and in determining degree of speaker incipiency of 'yeah'.

AB - In this paper, we look at how prosody can be used to automatically distinguish between different dialogue act functions and how it determines degree of speaker incipiency. We focus on the different uses of 'yeah'. Firstly, we investigate ambiguous dialogue act functions of 'yeah': 'yeah' is most frequently used as a backchannel or an assessment. Secondly, we look at the degree of speakership incipiency of 'yeah': some 'yeah' items display a greater intent of the speaker to take the ﬂoor. Classi﬿cation experiments with decision trees were performed to assess the role of prosody: we found that prosody indeed plays a role in disambiguating dialogue act functions and in determining degree of speaker incipiency of 'yeah'.

KW - METIS-271082

KW - Backchannel

KW - Classification

KW - IR-74047

KW - Prosody

KW - speaker incipiency

KW - dialogue act

KW - HMI-SLT: Speech and Language Technology

KW - EWI-18626

M3 - Conference contribution

SP - 2554

EP - 2557

BT - Proceedings of Interspeech 2010

PB - International Speech Communication Association

T2 - 11th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH 2010

Y2 - 26 September 2010 through 30 September 2010

ER -

Disambiguating the functions of conversational sounds with prosody: the case of 'yeah'

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

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