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<Paper uid="W97-0401">
  <Title>Discourse particles and routine formulas in spoken language translation</Title>
  <Section position="4" start_page="3" end_page="3" type="intro">
    <SectionTitle>
3 Discourse functions
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> In VERBMOBIL, the &amp;quot;deep&amp;quot; analysis is undertaken in the Context Evaluation (ConEval) module, which constructs a conceptual representation (based on a domain model coded in a description logic language) from the output of the syntactic/semantic analysis module. The conceptual representation is used to compute the dialogue act \[Schmitz, Quantz 1995\] and to perform various disambiguations \[Stede et al.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> 1996\], which can involve inferences. For example, we reason with date expressions to determine whether one date is a specification of another, or a separate one (which is sometimes important for disambiguation). null In our conceptual representation, the discourse particles (in their &amp;quot;pragmatic reading&amp;quot;) are represented by labels signifying their discourse function. Figure 1 shows our current taxonomy of discourse functions (an extension of the one given in \[Schmitz, Fischer 1995\]), which has resulted from extensive corpus analyses of the VERBMOBIL data and from examining the relevant research literature. In the following, we briefly explain the various functions.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="2"> Structuring These functions have received the most attention in the research literature. PUSH and POP mark the beginning of a sub-topic or digression, and the return to the previous topic, respectively. (Examples: by the way-anyway / davon abgesehen-wie auch immer). With an UPTAKE, the speaker signals a turn-taking at the beginning of a turn and a turn-holding within a turn. It also can help the hearer adapting to the acoustic properties of the speaker's utterance without losing information.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="3"> (Examples: all right, now/ja, also). CHECK is a turn yielding signal, prompting the dialogue partner to respond. By using a CHECK, the speaker often seeks approving feedback from the hearer. (Example: isn't it? / oder?). REPAIR indicates problems in planning and performing the output, signals a new start, and thereby is also a turn-holding signal. (Examples: I mean, sorry / ach nein, PSh).</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="4"> Coherence Marking Some particles can be employed to facilitate the embedding of the utterance within the context, and to check the common basis of the participants. (Example: doch, schon).</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="5"> Attitudinal We borrowed this label from Allwood et al. \[1992\]. While English often uses verbs for these purposes, German also offers a range of particles for speakers to convey a POSITIVE (example: gem), NEGATIVE (example: leider), or IN-DIFFERENT (example: ruhig) attitude towards the propositional content in their utterance, or towards the last utterance of the dialogue partner. In addition, the propositional content of the speaker's own utterance can be marked as presupposed, or GIVEN (examples: ja, doch). And, some particles indicate SURPRISE at an utterance made by the partner (example: oh).</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="6"> Smoothening Also especially in German, particles often help to create an overall appropriate intonation contour, and at the same time can serve to express cooperativity and politeness (Examples: denn, doch). Specifically, FILLERS allow the speaker to plan the output, avoid undue pauses, and help to hold the turn. (Examples: ich wiirde sagen, PSh).</Paragraph>
  </Section>
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