Summary

Contributions from psychology, linguistics, logic, computer science, speech technology, neural networks and human factors are brought together in this volume to provide a comprehensive account of the scientific disciplines and research approaches that are directed at the study of human dialogue. It is not only a multidisciplinary account, it has also achieved a high level of integration which brings out a multifaceted approach to dialogues between people and between the human user and an information system. Together with the advanced and state of the art theoretical descriptions of human dialogue, original experimental research is also presented which shows fascinating and revealing phenomena in a range of dialogue situations. Included with the book are gramophone recordings which illustrate some of these situations. Nonverbal interaction is also discussed extensively with the presentation of probing analyses and some experimental research. The basis of the book was laid during a workshop held in 1986 and the authors were requested to amend their presentations, taking into account the presentations of the other authors.(Included with the book are gramophone recordings which illustrate some of the dialogue presented in the text).