ISCA Archive ICSLP 1992
ISCA Archive ICSLP 1992

A "speech acts" approach to grounding in conversation

David R. Traum, James F. Allen

We propose that Grounding, the process of achieving mutual understanding between participants in a conversation, be analyzed in terms of the actions performed by the conversants which contribute to achieving this mutual understanding. We propose a set of Grounding Acts which facilitate this analysis. This paper describes Grounding Acts, and a "grammar" stipulating which series of performance of grounding acts result in grounded content.