Conversational semantics sustained by commitments

摘要

We propose an operational model that combines message meaning and conversational structure in one comprehensive approach. Our long-term research goal is to lay down principles uniting message meaning and conversational structure while providing an operational foundation that could be implemented in open computer systems. In this paper we explore our advances in one aspect of meaning that in theories of language use is known as “signal meaning”, and propose a layered model in which the meaning of messages can be defined according to their fitness to advance the state of joint activities. Messages in our model are defined in terms of social commitments, which have been shown to entice conversational structure.