Design for Dialogue Comprehension

I. Dia logue Games, Speech Acts and DCS -Examina t ion of a c t u a l h u m a n d i a logue revea ls s t r u c t u r e e x t e n d i n g over • ~overal t u r n s and cor respond ing to pa r t l cu l a r issues t ha t the participants r a i se and resolve. Our past w o r k on d ia logue has led to an accoun t of this s t ruc tu r e , Dialogue Game t h e o r y f L o r i n & Moore 1978; Moore, l ,evlu & Mann 1977]. Th is t heo ry c la ims that dialogues (and other language uses as w e l l ) are comprehensible on ly because the part icipants are mak ing avai lab le to each other the knowledge o f the goals t h e y are pursu ing , at ~he p~omcnt, Pa t terns of these goals r e c u r , r e p r e s e n t i n g l anguage convent ions : t he i r theore t i ca l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s are ca l led Dialogue Games.