The taxonomy ..... Concept definitions ..... Annotation guidelines ..... Annotated examples ..... ISO standard 24617-2 Publications

What's new in release 5:

• certainty qualifiers, which can be attached to all information-providing functions and indicate a speaker's certainty of the correctness of the information that he provides. Only two values are distinguished: certain and uncertain, the latter being the default value.
  For example, an answer like "That's from platform 5, I think" which would be annotated according to previous releases as having the communicative function Uncertain Answer is now annotated as Answer[uncertain], i.e. as having the communicative function Answer, qualified as `uncertain'.
• conditionality qualifiers, which can be attached to action-discussion functions and indicate whether the agent of the action under discussion is committed to perform the action fully or only partially. Again, two values are distinguished: partial and complete, the latter being the default value.
• sentiment qualifiers, which can be attached to information-providing functions and to feedback functions, and which indicate a certain attitude or emotion of the speaker. In this case there is no default value (or, in other words, the default value is unspecified).

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DIT++ Taxonomy of Communicative Functions

• Information Transfer Functions
  • Information Seeking Functions
    • Question
      • Set Question
      • Propositional Question
        • Check Question
          • Posi-check
          • Nega-check
      • Choice Question

• Information Providing Functions
  • Inform
    • Agreement
    • Disagreement
      • Correction
    • Answer
      • Confirm
      • Disconfirm

• Domain-related Functions Functions, expressible either by means of performative verbs denoting actions for performing activities in a specific domain, or by means of graphical actions such as highlighting, or pointing to something in a picture. For example:
  • Open Meeting, Suspend Meeting, Resume Meeting, Close Meeting (in meeting situations)
  • Bet, AcceptBet
  • Congratulation, Condolance
  • Hire, Fire, Appoint,... (in a human resource management domain)
  • Show, Highlight, Point, List,... for performing graphical/multimodal dialogue acts
  
  
• Dialogue Control Functions
  • Feedback Functions
    • Auto-Feedback Functions
    • AutoPositive (= Unspecified Positive Auto-Feedback)
      • AttentPositiveAutoFeedback (= Positive Auto-Feedback at the level of attention)
        • PerceptPositiveAutoFeedback (= Positive Auto-Feedback at the level of perception)
          • InterprPositiveAutoFeedback (= Positive Auto-Feedback at the level of interpretation)
            • EvalPositiveAutoFeedback (= Positive Auto-Feedback at the level of evauluation)
              • ExecPositiveAutoFeedback (= Positive Auto-Feedback at the level of execution)
    • AutoNegative (= Unspecified Negative Auto-Feedback)
      • ExecNegativeAutoFeedback
        • EvalNegativeAutoFeedback
          • InterprNegativeAutoFeedback
            • PerceptNegativeAutoFeedback
              • AttentNegativeAutoFeedback
  • Allo-Feedback
    • Feedback-Giving Functions
      • Allo-Positive (= Unspecified positive allo-feedback)
        • AttentPositiveAlloFeedback
          • PerceptPositiveAlloFeedback
            • Interpretation PositiveAlloFeedback
              • EvalPositiveAlloFeedback
                • ExecPositiveAlloFeedback (= Overall positive allo-feedback)
        • AlloNegative (= Unspecified negative allo-feedback)
          • ExecNegativeAlloFeedback
            • EvalNegativeAlloFeedback
              • InterprNegativeAlloFeedback
                • PerceptNegativeAlloFeedback
                  • AttentNegativeAlloFeedback (= Overall negative allo-feedback)
      • Feedback Elicitation Functions
      • AttentionFeebackElicitation
      • PerceptionFeebackElicitation
      • InterpretationFeebackElicitation
      • EvaluationFeebackElicitation
      • ExecutionFeebackElicitation
      
      
    • Interaction Management Functions
      • Turn Management
        Turn-unit-initial functions
        • Turn Accept
        • Turn Grab
        • Turn Take
        Turn-unit-final functions
        • Turn Assign
        • Turn Keep
        • Turn Release
      • Time Management
        • Stalling
        • Pausing
      • Contact Management
        • Contact Check
        • Contact Indication
      • Own Communication Management
      • Error signaling
        • Retraction
          • Self-correction
      • Partner Communication Management
      • Completion
      • Correct-misspeaking
      • Discourse Structure Management
        • Opening
        • Preclosing
        • Topic Introduction
        • Topic Shift Announcement
          • Topic Shift
    • Social Obligations Management Functions
      • Salutation
        • Initial greeting
        • Return greeting
      • Self-introduction
        • Initial self-introduction
        • Return self-introduction
      • Apologizing
        • Apology
        • Apology-downplay
      • Gratitude Expression
        • Thanking
        • Thanking-downplay
      • Valediction
        • Initial goodbye
        • Return goodbye
  
  

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  Definitions of DIT++ communicative functions

  
  In the definitions of communicative functions, the hierarchical relations will be exploited by only specifying the way in which the preconditions of a communicative function strenghten or are additional to those of its ancestors.
  
  To see examples, click at the communicative function name.
  
  
• General-Purpose Communicative Functions are functions that can be applied to any kind of semantic content.
  They are often applied to information concerning the task or activity that motivates the dialogue, and in that case they form a dialogue act in the Task/Activity dimension.
  In information-seeking dialogues, advice-giving dialogues, and other dialogues whose primary motivation is to exchange certain information, the general-purpose functions are the only functions that are needed in the Task/Activity dimensions. In other types of dialogue one finds besides the general-prupose functions als certain activity-specific communicative functions, some examples of which are mentioned above.
  General-purpose functions can also be applied to content concerning the communication, in which case they form a `dialogue control act'. For example, the utterance I did not hear what you said has the general-purpose function Inform, and in view of the type of is semantic content, it provides (negative) feedback about the speaker's perception of the previous utterance (forming a dialogue act in the Auto-Feedback dimension).
  
  
  • Information Transfer Functions
    The class of information-transfer functions consists of all those functions whose primary aim is to obtain or to provide information. The class falls apart into information-seeking and information-providing functions.
    
    • Information-seeking functions:
      All functions in this class have in common that the speaker wants to know something, which he assumes the addressee to know, and puts pressure on the addressee to provide this information.
      So-called Check Questions carry the additional assumption that the speaker expects the answer to be that the proposition under discussion is true.
      Still more specifically, some check questions carry the additional assumption that the addressee's beliefs confirm the speaker's expectation (Posi-Check) or that they contradict this expectation (Nega-Check). Other special types of questions, which are not considered here, are the Exam Question and the Rhetorical Question (which only looks like a question, but is not really one).
    
    
    • Question: The speaker S wants to obtain certain information, which he assumes the addressee A to possesses, and puts pressure on A to provide this information.
      • Propositional Question(a.k.a. Yes/No-Question): The information that S wants to obtain is the truth of a proposition p
      • Check Question: S weakly believes that the proposition is true
      • Posi-check: S weakly believes that A also believes that the proposition is true
      • Nega-check: S weakly believes that A believes that the proposition is false
      • Set Question (a.k.a. WH-Question): The information that S wants to obtain is which members of a certain set, described in the semantic content, have a certain property, also described in the semantic content; S assumes that there is at least one such element
      S assumes that A knows some or all of the elements of that set which have that property
      • Choice Question (a.k.a. Alternatives Question): S wants to know which one from a list of alternative propositions, described in the semantic content, is true; S believes that one of the alternatives is true.
    
    
    • Information-providing functions
      All information-providing acts have in common that the speaker provides the addressee certain information which he believes the addressee not to know or not to be aware of, and which he assumes to be correct.
      The various subtypes of information-providing functions differ in the speaker's motivation for providing the information, and in different additional beliefs about the information that the addressee possesses.
      
      
      • Inform: Speaker S wants to make the information p that forms the semantic content of the inform act known to addressee A; S assumeses that the information p is correct.
        • Agreement: S believes that A weakly believes the semantic content to be true
        • Disagreement: S believes that A weakly believes the semantic content to be false
          • Correction: S wants the semantic content, which he believes to be correct, to replace a belief by A that S believes to be incorrect.
            
        • Answer: S believes that A wants to possess the information which forms the semantic content of the Answer act.
        • Confirm: S believes that A weakly believes that the propositional content is true.
        • Disconfirm: S believes that A weakly believes that the propositional content is false.
      
      
    • Action Discussion Functions:
      Action Discussion functions have a semantic content consisting of an action, and possibly also a description of a manner or frequency of performing the action. This frequency may be zero, so e.g. an Instruct to perform an action with frequency zero is the same as prohibiting that action, and committing oneself to perform an action with zero frequency is the same as committing oneself to not perform the action.
      
      • Commissives:
        S is committed to performing a certain action in a certain manner or with a certain frequency, possibly dependent on certain conditions, and possibly dependent on A's consent that S do so.
        • Offer: S is committed to perform the action in the manner or with the frequency, described in the semantic content, if A woud like S to do so
        • Promise: S is committed to perform the action in the manner or with the frequency, described in the semantic content; S believes the action to be beneficial for A
        • Threat: S is committed to perform the action in the manner or with the frequency, described in the semantic content; S believes the action to be harmful for A
        • AddressRequest: S assumes that A wants S to perform the action; S is committed to conditionally perform the action, with conditions (for instance concerning the manner or frequency of performing the action), described in the semantic content
        • AcceptRequest: S is committed to unconditionally perform the action described in the semantic content
        • DeclineRequest: S is committed to not perform the action described in the semantic content (i.e., S is committed to perform the action with frequency zero)
        • Address Suggestion: S assumes that A believes that the action, described in the semantic content, is potentially promising for achieving a certain goal; S also assumes that A believes that S is able to perform the action (possibly together with A); S is committed to conditionally perform the action, with conditions (for instance concerning the manner or frequency of performing the action), described in the semantic content
        • AcceptSuggestion: S is committed to unconditionally perform the action described in the semantic content
        • DeclineSuggestion: S is committed to not perform the action described in the semantic content (i.e., S is committed to perform the action with frequency zero)
        • Directives:
          S wants A to consider a certain action which A might carry out (possibly together with S), potentially wanting to put pressure on A to do so
          • Instruct: S wants A to perform the action in the manner or with the frequency described in the semantic content; S assumes that A is able to do so
          • Address Offer: S believes that A is committed to perform the action described in the semantic content dependent on S's consent that A do so
          • AcceptOffer: S wants A to perform the action described in the semantic content
          • DeclineOffer: S wants A to not perform the action described in the semantic content (i.e., S wants A to perform the action with frequency zero)
          • Indirect Request: S wants A to perform the requested action in the manner or with the frequency described, conditional on A's consent
          • Request: S wants A to perform the requested action in the manner or with the frequency described, conditional on A's consent; S assumes that A is able to do so
          • Suggestion: S wants A to know that the action in the manner or with the frequency described in the semantic content, is potentially promising for achieving a certain goal, which either S believes A to have, or which is specified as part of the semantic content; S assumes that A (possibly toegether with S) is able to perform the action in the manner or with the frequency described.
    • Dialogue Control Functions: The functions of communicative acts that serve to create or maintain the conditions for successful interaction.
      
      • Feedback Functions:
        Feedback acts provide or elicit information about the processing of he previous utterance(s), where at least five levels of attending to an utterance and processing it are distinguished:
        • attention, i.e. paying attention to the dialogue partner sufficiently to fully enable the perception of the partner's contributions (e.g. listening, looking).
        • perception, i.e. the recognition of the auditive, visual, or tactile components of communicative behaviour.
        • interpretation, i.e. the assignment of meaning to the recognized communicative behaviour. In terms of dialogue acts, this is the assignment of semantic content and communicative functions to utterances.
        • evaluation, i.e. comparing the information that an utterance encodes, due to its communicative functions and semantic content, with what was already known. For instance, when a question was asked to which, according to the addressee, the questioner already knows the answer, then the addressee cannot accept the information conveyed by the question, as this would put him in an inconsistent belief state.
        • execution, also called 'application' or 'dispatch'. For instance, execution of a request or instruct is performing the requested or instructed action; execution of a question is gathering the information to answer; executing an answer is integrating its semantic content with the belief state.
        
        Auto-Feedback acts are about the speaker's own attention and processing of an utterance in the addressee's last turn; Allo-Feedback acts are about the speaker's beliefs about the addressee's attention and processing of an utterance in the speaker's last turn.
        Dimension-specific Auto-Feedback functions are intended to signal that the processing of the utterance in question failed at a certain level or was successful up to a certain level, ranging from attending via perceiving, understanding, and evaluating to doing something with the result of the processing at all these levels ("execution"). (More articulate feedback acts, signalling or requesting help for a specific processing problem, are constructed with general-purpose functions and a specific processing-related semantic content.)
        
        
        • Auto-feedback functions:
          • AutoPositive (= Unspecified Positive): S successfully processed the previous utterance, but provides no information about the level(s) of processing being reported
          • AutoNegative (= Unspecified Negative): S was unsuccessful in processing the previous utterance, but provides no information about the level(s) of processing being reported
          • ExecPositiveAutoFeedback (= Overall positive auto-eedback: S's perception, interpretation, evaluation, and execution of the previous utterance were successful.
          • EvalPositiveAutoFeedback: S's perception, interpretation, and evaluation of the previous utterance were successful.
          • InterprPositiveAutoFeedback: S's perception and interpretation of the previous utterance were successful.
          • PerceptPositiveAutoFeedback: S's perception of the previous utterance was successful.
          • AttentPositiveAutoFeedback: S is paying full attention
          • ExecNegativeAutoFeedback: S's perception, interpretation, and evaluation of the previous utterance were successful, but that he encountered a problem in applying the information from that utterances (for example, S was unable to carry out an instruction, or to find the information needed for answering a question).
          • EvalNegativeAutoFeedback: S encountered a problem in evaluating the semantic content of the previous utterance (for example, the utterance provided information that is in conflict with information already available to S).
          • InterprNegativeAutoFeedback: S's perception of the previous utterance was successful, but he encountered a problem in trying to assign an interpretation to the utterance (for example, S was unable to make sense of the semantic content).
          • PerceptNegativeAutoFeedback: S's perception of the previous utterance encountered a problem (S did not hear the utterance well, or was unable to read it).
          • AttentNegativeAutoFeedback (Overall negative auto-feedback): S did not pay (full) attention to the previous utterance (e.g., S did not listen carefully).
        • Allo-Feedback Functions:
          • Feedback-Giving Functions:
            • AlloPositive (= Unspecified positive allo-feedback): S believes that A successfully processed the previous utterance, but provides no information about the level(s) of processing being reported
            • Negative (= Unspecified negative): S believes that A was unsuccessful in processing the previous utterance, but provides no information about the level(s) of processing being reported
            • Overall Positive Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's execution of S's previous utterance was successful
            • Execution Negative Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's execution of S's previous utterance was unsuccessful
            • Evaluation Positive Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's evaluation of S's previous utterance was successful
            • Evaluation Negative Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's evaluation of S's previous utterance was unsuccessful
            • Interpretation Positive Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's interpretation of S's previous utterance was successful
            • Interpretation Negative Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's interpretation of S's previous utterance was unsuccessful
            • Perception Positive Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's perception of S's previous utterance was successful
            • Perception Negative Allo_Feedback: S believes that A's perception of S's previous utterance was unsuccessful
            • Attention Negative Allo_Feedback: S believes that A did not pay attention to S's previous utterance.
        • Feedback Elicitation Functions: S requests A to provide information about A's processing of S's previous utterance.
        • Attention Feedback Elicitation: S wants to know whether A is paying attention to S
        • Perception Feedback Elicitation: S wants to know A's perception of S's previous utterance was successful
        • Interpretation Feedback Elicitation: S wants to know A's interpretation of S's previous utterance was successful
        • Evaluation Feedback Elicitation: S wants to know A's evaluation of S's previous utterance was successful
        • Execution Feedback Elicitation: S wants to know A's execution of S's previous utterance was successful
        
        
      • Interaction Management Functions
        • Turn management functions:
          Turn management acts are those dialogue acts which are performed in order to keep or to reallocate the speaker role. The beginning and end of a turn, defined as an instance of communicative behaviour bounded by lack of activity or another communicator's activity, are associated with a reallocation of the speaker role. A turn ends either because the current speaker assigns the speaker role to the addressee, or because he offers the speaker role without putting any pressure on the addressee to take the turn, or because the addressee interrupts the speaker and 'grabs' the speaker role. Turn Assign and Turn Release are thus two of the possible turn-final functions. A turn may also include smaller units with boundaries where a reallocation of the speaker role might have occurred, but where in fact it does not occur because the speaker indicates that he wants to keep the turn. Such a smaller unit then has Turn Keep function as the unit-final Turn Management function.
          A turn may also have a turn-initial function, indicating whether the speaker of this turn obtained the speaker role by 'grabbing' it (Turn Grab), by taking it when it was available (Turn Take) or by accepting the addressee's assignment of the speaker role to him (Turn Accept).
          The units of Turn Management can thus have both a turn-unit-initial and a turn-unit-final function, which is captured by giving them a pair of functions, an initial and a final one.
          • Turn-unit-initial functions:
            • Turn Take: S wants to have the turn, which is available
            • Turn Accept: S agrees to take the turn, which A has given to him
            • Turn Grab: S wants to get the turn, which A currently has, before A assigns the turn to him or releases it.
          • Turn-unit-final functions:
            • Turn Keep: S wants to keep the turn
            • Turn Assign: S wants A to take the turn
            • Turn Release: S wants to make the turn available to any participant
        • Time management functions:
          • Stalling: S needs a little bit of time to formulate an utterance
          • Pausing: S needs some time to do something (either in preparation of continuing the dialogue, or because something else came up which is more urgent for him to attend to) and therefore wants to suspend the dialogue for a while
        • Contact management functions
          • Contact Check : S wants to establish whether A is ready to receive messages from and to send messages to S
          • Contact Indication: S wants A to know that S is ready to send messages to and receive messages from A
        • Own communication management functions:
          • Self-error signal: S wants A to know that S has made a mistake in speaking
          • Retraction: S wants to withdraw something that he said within the same turn
            • Self-correction: S wants to correct an error that he made within the same turn
        • Partner communication management functions:
          • Completion: S wants to help A to complete an utterance that A is struggling to complete
          • Correct-misspeaking: S wants to correct (part of) an utterance by A, believing that A made a speaking error
        • Dialogue structure management functions:
          • Opening: S wants A to know that S is ready and willing to engage in a dialogue with A, of which the present utterance precedes any utterance with a activity-oriented function in the current dialogue utterance precedes any utterance with a activity-oriented function in the current dialogue
          • Preclosing: S plans to end the current dialogue shortly
          • Topic introduction: S wants to introduce the topic mentioned in the semantic content.
          • Topic shift announcement: S wants to change the topic.
            • Topic shift: S wants to shift the topic to the one mentioned in the semantic content.
        
        
      • Social obligations management functions:
        • Salutation
          • Initial greeting: S wants A to be aware of S's presence; S is aware of A's presence; S believes that S and A are in a position to exchange messages; S puts pressure on A to acknowledge this.
          • Return greeting: S wants A to be aware of A's presence; S is aware of A's presence; S believes that S and A are in a position to exchange messages; S is pressured to respond to an initial greeting by A addressed to S.
        • Self-introduction
          • Initial self-introduction: S wants to make himself known to A; S puts pressure on A to acknowledge this.
          • Return self-introduction: S wants to make himself known to A; S is pressured to do so by an initial self-introduction by A addressed to S.
        • Apologizing
          • Apology: S wants A to know that S regrets having made an error in perceiving, understanding, evaluating, or executing an utterance by A, or not having paid attention to, perceived well, or misunderstood an utterance from A, or being unable to evaluate or execute an utterance from A; S puts pressure on A to acknowledge this.
          • Apology-downplay: S wants to mitigate A's feelings of regret; S has been pressured to respond to an apology by A adressed to S.
        • Gratitude
          • Thanking: S wants A to know that S is grateful for what A has done in the current dialogue; S puts pressure on A to acknowledge this.
          • Thanking-downplay: S wants to mitigate A's feelings of gratitude; S has been pressured to respond to a thanking act by A addressed to S.
        • Valediction
          • Initialgoodbye: S wants A to know that S intends the current utterance to be his final contribution to the dialogue; S puts pressure on A to acknowledge this.
          • Return goodbye: S wants A to know that S intends the current utterance to be his final contribution to the dialogue; S wants to acknowledge his awareness that A want his (A's) last utterance to be his final contribution to the dialogue; S has been pressured to respond to an initial goodbye by A addressed to S.

Examples of DIT++ dialogue acts

• Information-transfer functions
  • Information-seeking functions
    • Nega-check: NOT tonight??
    • Posi-check: Direct Questions: In the evening, right?
    • Nega-check: NOT tonight??
  • Information-providing acts
    • Inform: You didn't get it. (AMI; example of an Inform used for negative feedback); Ik zie dat ik ook woorden kan aanwijzen (IMIX; example of an Inform with a semantic content in the Activity Management domain (see DAMSL))
    • Agreement: Exactly.
    • Disagreement: No!
    • Confirm: It is
    • Confirm[uncertain]: I think so.
    • Disconfirm: It's not
    • Disconfirm[uncertain]: I don't think so.
    • Answer[uncertain]Maybe.
    • AnswerYes; Sure.

• Commissives:
  • Zal ik ...?; Wilt u dat ik...?
• Directives:
  • Suggestion Shall we go? (AMI); Maybe we can do that later; (AMI) Let's wait for them. (AMI); Ik kan kaartjes voor u reserveren (SCHISMA)
  • Request: Please give me some more light.
  • AcceptOffer: Yes please
  • DeclineOffer: No thank you.
  • Other directives, as expressible by means of performative communicative verbs, such as Advice, Proposal, Permission,...

• Completion: A: ... to Tempelhof, ... to the airport of, er, ... S: of Berlin.
• Correct-misspeaking: [A: On Thursday] S: On TUESday

• Self-error: Oops!

• Stalling: Let me see
• Pausing: Just a moment; Een ogenblik alstublieft (OVIS)

• Opening: Okay.....
• Topic introduction Now for the next meeting,...
• Topic shift announcement Iets anders; Verder.
  • Topic shift

ISO dialogue act annotation standard 24617-2 (DIS)

Harry Bunt, Jan Alexandersson, Jean Carletta, Jae-Woong Choe, Alex Chengyu Fang, Koiti Hasida, Kiyong Lee, Volha Petukhova, Andrei Popescu-Belis, Laurent Romary, Claudia Soria, and David Traum:

"Towards an ISO standard for dialogue act annotation". In Proceedings of LREC 2010, May 2010, Malta.

Harry Bunt, Jan Alexandersson, Jae-Woong Choe, Alex Chengyu Fang, Koiti Hasida, Volha Petukhova, Andrei Popescu-Belis, and David Traum:

"ISO 24617-2: A semantically-based standard for dialogue annotation". In Proceedings of LREC 2012, May 2012, Istanbul.