Planning English Referring Expressions

This paper describes a theory of language generation based on planning. To illustrate the theory, the problem of planning referring expressions is examined in detail. A theory based on planning makes it possible for one to account for noun phrases that refer, that inform the hearer of additional information, and that are coordinated with the speaker's physical actions to clarify his communicative intent. The theory is embodied in a computer system called KAMP, which plans both physical and linguistic actions, given a high-level description of the speaker's goals.