Introduction to Writing Prompts

Writing prompts combines the art of human conversation with automated system design and a little social psychology.

There are many ways to ask the same question. Prompt writers must create the phrase that produces the best possible recognition result for the system. Prompt writers continually balance the inevitable constraints of limited grammars with the goal of authentic conversational speech.

Authentic-sounding prompts are clear and concise yet maintain the feel of a conversation. They are the result of detailed observation and careful listening. Certain tasks have their own vocabulary of task-specific words and terms. Some words have unique meanings that differ from their dictionary meanings. Designers should consider these variables along with all the other factors that go into writing authentic dialog.

Prompts should be unambiguous. Any extraneous material that the user has to process could be counter-productive. The sequential nature of information presentation in a speech system, in addition to human memory constraints, means there is little room for additional demands on users. Users are often in noisy locations or functioning in demanding situations such as driving their cars.

Prompts facilitate turn-taking by providing the users with recognizable cues that it is their turn to speak. Users also need prompt cues to signal that they can safely barge in and interrupt the system without risking the loss of crucial information.

Spoken Language and Written Language

Speech and written language are different, and prompt writers should remember this difference when scripting their characters' utterances. Speech systems should not emulate all of the idiosyncrasies of conversation. Conversations can be partially incomprehensible on the page without the additional visual cues and context that make conversation intelligible.

Differences Between Spoken and Written Language

• Speech signal is sequential and non-persistent. Writing is permanent.
• Speech is most often for face-to-face communication—writing implies distance in time.
• Written language is more careful and impersonal than conversational speech.

Rules That Can be Broken

Speech systems can use informal, conversational language (unless there are restrictions preventing that choice.) Current everyday conversations between users and service representatives are normally conducted with a friendly informality. Prompts are not concerned with the rules of written language—prompts are dialog. The voice user interface (VUI) should talk with users in the same way that people talk in the modeled environment.

Prompt writers can break the rules of written language, for example:

• Contractions are essential to the sound and feel of spoken language. To use "would not" instead of "wouldn't," "can not" in place of "can't" would sound overly formal and stiff.
• Using "whom" instead of "who." Very few people now use the grammatically correct "whom." Some still insist, but it tends to sound dated in conversation.
• The singular "they" is an excellent device for avoiding the problem of the masculine pronoun and provides writers with an acceptable sex-neutral alternative. Use of the singular "they" is becoming increasingly common in everyday conversation.
• Preposition stranding has historically been considered ungrammatical, but in conversational speech, sentences frequently end with prepositions.

Another interesting example of the difference between spoken and written language is the use of back pointing. It differs from written language, which can also point forward.

Example:

WRITING:	I tried to use a corkscrew to eject the disk, but this did not work.
SPEAKING:	I tried to use a corkscrew to eject the disk, but that didn't work.

Take Advantage of Conversational Vocabulary

Language that describes technology is often not conversational. Use natural alternatives even if a longer phrase results, unless space is a critical issue.

For example:

"Please say the duration" 

as opposed to:

"How long do you expect it to last?"

"This e-mail address is invalid" 

as opposed to:

"There's a problem with the way the e-mail's listed in your address book."

"An error has been generated. Returning to Main."

as opposed to:

"Sorry, but there was a technical problem. We'll have to start over."

Discourse Markers

Discourse markers, also known as cue words, feature in human-to-human task-oriented dialogs. Discourse markers and pronouns function as cohesion devices—they signal the structure of the discourse to the listener and make the speech systems sound more relaxed and realistic. They bind stretches of naturally occurring language and facilitate comprehension, while implying a higher-level awareness of the progress of the dialog. Some words and phrases typically used as discourse markers are:

And	Oh	So
In fact	Well	Anyway
First	Next	Finally
Of course	Now	Okay

"And" is often used at the beginning of a turn to elaborate on an idea. "Oh" prepares the listener for a surprising item. "So" is often spoken in conclusion. Knowledge of the functions of discourse markers is important when scripting a VUI.

The following example illustrates the use of discourse markers in a Scheduling Application:

SYSTEM:	What would you like to do next?
CALLER:	Add an appointment
SYSTEM:	Certainly. For what date?
CALLER:	January 21st
SYSTEM:	What time would you like to start?
CALLER:	Ten o'clock
SYSTEM:	Thanks. Now, how long do you expect it to run?
CALLER:	Hmm, about an hour and a half.
SYSTEM:	Got it. I need to record a brief description, for instance, meeting, personal, doctor
CALLER:	Meeting.
SYSTEM:	Great. So that's a Meeting on January 21st at one o'clock for one hour. Is that right?
CALLER:	Yes.

See Also

Prompts | Using Prompt Databases | Creating Prompts