Dialogue Act Recognition for Conversational Agents

Abstract

The recognition of dialogue acts, actions that are performed through speech, is important for conversational agents to function well. Unfortunately, the studies that have been done on this topic vary a lot in methodology, so they are difficult to compare. Additionally, their results are often presented rather shallowly, leaving out a lot of valuable information. This thesis in- vestigates the various methods that have been used for this task to deter- mine what does and does not work, what the problem areas are and how they may be resolved. In addition, an alternative approach to dialogue act recognition is proposed that addresses some of the issues encountered. All of this is done within the context of conversational agents which is limiting in some ways, but also provides opportunities for improving the process.