{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/44275"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/44275","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Parsing meta-communicational statements in dialogues: a computational model","abstract":"Prevalent in dialogues are communications about the activity of talking itself. Examination of dyadic conversations readily shows the ubiquity of statements such as \"Okay,\" \"Well,\" \"You know,\" indicating that in natural, spontaneous talk people are often concerned with the process of talking as well as with the content of their talk. In an analysis of a corpus of twenty seven transcribed telephone conversations (80 minutes of continuous talk). we found that such statements occur with an average frequency of 1.49 per conversational turn, and that a turn free of such statements is rare. A verbal expression focusing on the activity of talking we term a meta-statement. In this thesis, we present a model of meta-statements. We propose that metastatements are pragmatic units of talk used to regulate and maintain the conversational contexts shared by interactants. More specifically, we hypothesize that to determine the \"meaning\" of meta-statements, six aspects of a conversation's context must be modeled: the rhetorical, conversational, interpersonal. emotional, cognitive, and communicational aspects. We specify these models in what follows and outline the components of a conversational system that is able to parse the meaning of meta-statements.","abstract_html":"Prevalent in dialogues are communications about the activity of talking itself. Examination of dyadic conversations readily shows the ubiquity of statements such as "Okay," "Well," "You know," indicating that in natural, spontaneous talk people are often concerned with the process of talking as well as with the content of their talk. In an analysis of a corpus of twenty seven transcribed telephone conversations (80 minutes of continuous talk). we found that such statements occur with an average frequency of 1.49 per conversational turn, and that a turn free of such statements is rare. A verbal expression focusing on the activity of talking we term a meta-statement. In this thesis, we present a model of meta-statements. We propose that metastatements are pragmatic units of talk used to regulate and maintain the conversational contexts shared by interactants. More specifically, we hypothesize that to determine the "meaning" of meta-statements, six aspects of a conversation's context must be modeled: the rhetorical, conversational, interpersonal. emotional, cognitive, and communicational aspects. We specify these models in what follows and outline the components of a conversational system that is able to parse the meaning of meta-statements.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bouzid, Ahmed T."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Computer Science","degree_department":"Computer Science","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Roach, John W."],"committee_members":["Fox, Edward A.","McKeon, Donald W."],"year":1991,"date_issued":"1991-01-03","date_published":"1991-01-03","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:18:47Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-08182009-040338"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-08182009-040338","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/44275","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Roach, John W."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Fox, Edward A.","McKeon, Donald W."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Computer Science"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bouzid, Ahmed T."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T21:42:57Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T21:42:57Z","2009-08-18"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1991-01-03"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-08182009-040338"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/44275"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Prevalent in dialogues are communications about the activity of talking itself. 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More specifically, we hypothesize that to determine the \"meaning\" of meta-statements, six aspects of a conversation's context must be modeled: the rhetorical, conversational, interpersonal. emotional, cognitive, and communicational aspects. We specify these models in what follows and outline the components of a conversational system that is able to parse the meaning of meta-statements."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["BTD"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Parsing meta-communicational statements in dialogues: a computational model"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Roach, John W."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Fox, Edward A.","McKeon, Donald W."],"dc:contributor.department":["Computer Science"],"dc:creator":["Bouzid, Ahmed T."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T21:42:57Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T21:42:57Z","2009-08-18"],"dc:date.issued":["1991-01-03"],"dc:description.abstract":["Prevalent in dialogues are communications about the activity of talking itself. 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More specifically, we hypothesize that to determine the \"meaning\" of meta-statements, six aspects of a conversation's context must be modeled: the rhetorical, conversational, interpersonal. emotional, cognitive, and communicational aspects. 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