Classification of cooperative and competitive overlaps in speech using cues from the context, overlapper, and overlappee

One of the major properties of overlapping speech is that it can be perceived as competitive or cooperative. For the development of real-time spoken dialog systems and the analysis of affective and social human behavior in conversations, it is important to (automatically) distinguish between these two types of overlap. We investigate acoustic characteristics of cooperative and competitive overlaps with the aim to develop automatic classifiers for the classification of overlaps. In addition to acoustic features, we also use information from gaze and head movement annotations. Contexts preceding and during the overlap are taken into account, as well as the behaviors of both the overlapper and the overlappee. We compare various feature sets in classification experiments that are performed on the AMI corpus. The best performances obtained lie around 27%–30% EER

Computational modeling of turn-taking dynamics in spoken conversations

The study of human interaction dynamics has been at the center for multiple research disciplines in- cluding computer and social sciences, conversational analysis and psychology, for over decades. Recent interest has been shown with the aim of designing computational models to improve human-machine interaction system as well as support humans in their decision-making process. Turn-taking is one of the key aspects of conversational dynamics in dyadic conversations and is an integral part of human- human, and human-machine interaction systems. It is used for discourse organization of a conversation by means of explicit phrasing, intonation, and pausing, and it involves intricate timing. In verbal (e.g., telephone) conversation, the turn transitions are facilitated by inter- and intra- speaker silences and over- laps. In early research of turn-taking in the speech community, the studies include durational aspects of turns, cues for turn yielding intention and lastly designing turn transition modeling for spoken dia- log agents. Compared to the studies of turn transitions very few works have been done for classifying overlap discourse, especially the competitive act of overlaps and function of silences. Given the limitations of the current state-of-the-art, this dissertation focuses on two aspects of con- versational dynamics: 1) design automated computational models for analyzing turn-taking behavior in a dyadic conversation, 2) predict the outcome of the conversations, i.e., observed user satisfaction, using turn-taking descriptors, and later these two aspects are used to design a conversational profile for each speaker using turn-taking behavior and the outcome of the conversations. The analysis, experiments, and evaluation has been done on a large dataset of Italian call-center spoken conversations where customers and agents are engaged in real problem-solving tasks. Towards solving our research goal, the challenges include automatically segmenting and aligning speakers’ channel from the speech signal, identifying and labeling the turn-types and its functional aspects. The task becomes more challenging due to the presence of overlapping speech. To model turn- taking behavior, the intension behind these overlapping turns needed to be considered. However, among all, the most critical question is how to model observed user satisfaction in a dyadic conversation and what properties of turn-taking behavior can be used to represent and predict the outcome. Thus, the computational models for analyzing turn-taking dynamics, in this dissertation includes au- tomatic segmenting and labeling turn types, categorization of competitive vs non-competitive overlaps, silences (e.g., lapse, pauses) and functions of turns in terms of dialog acts. The novel contributions of the work presented here are to 1. design of a fully automated turn segmentation and labeling (e.g., agent vs customer’s turn, lapse within the speaker, and overlap) system. 2. the design of annotation guidelines for segmenting and annotating the speech overlaps with the competitive and non-competitive labels. 3. demonstrate how different channels of information such as acoustic, linguistic, and psycholin- guistic feature sets perform in the classification of competitive vs non-competitive overlaps. 4. study the role of speakers and context (i.e., agents’ and customers’ speech) for conveying the information of competitiveness for each individual feature set and their combinations. 5. investigate the function of long silences towards the information flow in a dyadic conversation. The extracted turn-taking cues is then used to automatically predict the outcome of the conversation, which is modeled from continuous manifestations of emotion. The contributions include 1. modeling the state of the observed user satisfaction in terms of the final emotional manifestation of the customer (i.e., user). 2. analysis and modeling turn-taking properties to display how each turn type influence the user satisfaction. 3. study of how turn-taking behavior changes within each emotional state. Based on the studies conducted in this work, it is demonstrated that turn-taking behavior, specially competitiveness of overlaps, is more than just an organizational tool in daily human interactions. It represents the beneficial information and contains the power to predict the outcome of the conversation in terms of satisfaction vs not-satisfaction. Combining the turn-taking behavior and the outcome of the conversation, the final and resultant goal is to design a conversational profile for each speaker. Such profiled information not only facilitate domain experts but also would be useful to the call center agent in real time. These systems are fully automated and no human intervention is required. The findings are po- tentially relevant to the research of overlapping speech and automatic analysis of human-human and human-machine interactions

A Conversation Analysis of Overlapping in English Premiere League Extended Highlight

The aims of this research is to identify the types of overlapping and to describe the functions of overlapping in the conversation between the host and Garry Neville on English Premiere League extended highlight. The data were taken from the conversation that contain overlapping in the conversation between the host and Garry Neville on English Premiere League extended highlight. The researcher collected the data by observing the video and documenting it into transcript data. The method of this research is using descriptive qualitative method. The researcher uses the theory from Sidnell and Stivers (2013) about the types of overlapping. the researcher also uses the theory from Kennedy and Camdens (1983about the function of overlapping and also takes one function’s theory from Li (2001). The study found that there are 3 types of overlapping, those are : turn initial, mid turn, and turn terminal. Turn initial resulted 1.9% data, mid turn resulted 28.9% data, and turn terminal resulted 69.2% data. The study also found 7 functions of overlapping that are found in the conversation between the host and Garry Neville those are : clarification produced 21.2% data, agreement produced 30.7% data, assistance produced 11.5% data, disagreement produced 15.4% data, tangentialization produced 7.7% data, subject change produced 7.7% data, floor taking produced 5.8% data

Interrupting and overlapping in the US presidential debates - a comparative study

This thesis studied the occurrence of overlapping and power-oriented interruptions in the presidential debates of USA. The study was conducted by comparing the debates of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections and its aim was to provide an image of the developmental direction of interrupting in the presidential debates. The theoretical frame was constituted on “An analysis in terms of relationally neutral, power- and rapport-oriented acts” by Julia A Goldberg (1990) and “A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation” by Harvey Sacks et al. (1974). The main alignment of the study was Julia Goldberg’s poweroriented interruptions and its two subheadings “content control interruptions” and “process control interruptions”. In the study it was found that the power-oriented interruptions were more prevalent in the 2016 elections than in the 2012 elections. The difference was most visible in the prevalence of content-control interruptions as there was a major increase in their number in 2016 debates

Temporal entrainment in overlapping speech

Wlodarczak M. Temporal entrainment in overlapping speech. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University; 2014

The effect of overlap on the use of expressive speech acts in the Podcast "Dive Studios"

ENGLISH: Language is a tool used for communicating, engaging, and expressing human emotions. Humans frequently employ expressive speech acts as a means of expressing their emotions. Someone will be really eager to communicate his feelings, and he or she may respond before the other person has done speaking. The delivery of ideas or sentences becomes out of order as a result. These inconsistencies may cause dialogues to overlap due to this attitude. This study intends to examine the types of expressive speech acts, the types of overlap, and if the overlapping that manifests influences the presenters' and guest actors' use of expressive speech acts. To answer the research questions, this study used a qualitative descriptive methodology. Additionally, this study draws on the theories set forward by Jefferson (1984), Schegloff (2000), and Searle (1985) regarding speech acts, overlapping, and hitches and perturbations that can arise during overlapping. The podcast episodes 60, 73, and 80 from the YouTube channel Dive Studios Podcast, Kpop Daebak Show session served as the study's data sources. This study found that the type of expressive speech act that is often affected by overlapping is compliment, the type of overlap that often affects the use of expressive speech acts is transitional, and the effect that occurs due to overlapping in the use of expressive speech acts that is most commonly found is repetition. The first piece of advice for upcoming researchers is to use this study as a reference when studying expressive speech acts. For those who are just starting started with podcasting, the second recommendation is for you. They can potentially show how effective a podcast chat is with the use of this research. For example, when speaking, how to appropriately use expressive speech acts and respect others' speaking turns to avoid disrupting conversation. INDONESIA: Bahasa adalah alat yang digunakan untuk berkomunikasi, berinteraksi, dan mengekspresikan emosi manusia. Manusia sering menggunakan tindak tutur ekspresif sebagai sarana untuk mengekspresikan emosi mereka. Seseorang akan sangat bersemangat untuk mengomunikasikan perasaannya, dan dia mungkin merespons sebelum orang lain selesai berbicara. Akibatnya penyampaian gagasan atau kalimat menjadi tidak beraturan. Inkonsistensi ini dapat menyebabkan dialog tumpang tindih. Penelitian ini bermaksud untuk mengkaji jenis-jenis tindak tutur ekspresif, jenis-jenis tumpang tindih, dan apakah tumpang tindih yang muncul mempengaruhi penggunaan tindak tutur ekspresif oleh pembawa acara dan bintang tamu. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian, penelitian ini menggunakan metodologi deskriptif kualitatif. Selain itu, penelitian ini mengacu pada teori yang dikemukakan oleh Jefferson (1984), Schegloff (2000), dan Searle (1985) tentang tindak tutur, tumpang tindih, dan halangan dan gangguan yang dapat muncul selama tumpang tindih berlangsung. Podcast episode 60, 73, dan 80 dari channel YouTube Dive Studios Podcast, sesi Kpop Daebak Show menjadi sumber data penelitian. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa jenis tindak tutur ekspresif yang sering terkena tumpang tindih adalah compliment, jenis tumpang tindih yang sering mempengaruhi penggunaan tindak tutur ekspresif adalah transitional, dan efek yang paling banyak ditemukan akibat munculnya tumpang tindih yang mempengaruhi penggunaan tindak tutur ekspresif adalah repetition. Saran pertama untuk peneliti yang akan datang adalah menggunakan penelitian ini sebagai referensi ketika akan melakukan penelitian tentang tindak tutur ekspresif. Saran kedua untuk mereka yang baru memulai podcasting. Penelitian ini berpotensi menunjukkan seberapa efektif obrolan podcast dengan penggunaan penelitian ini. Misalnya, ketika berbicara, bagaimana menggunakan tindak tutur ekspresif yang tepat dan menghormati giliran bicara orang lain agar tidak mengganggu pembicaraan. ARABIC: اللغة _ الأدوات المستخدمة _ إلى عن على التواصل والتفاعل والتعبير _ _ المشاعر بشري . رجل غالباً استعمال إتبع قال معبرة مثل يعني إلى عن على التعبير المشاعر لهم . شخص ما إرادة للغاية متحمس إلى عن على نقل مشاعرها وهو _ المستطاع رد قبل أن ينتهي أي شخص آخر الحديث . نتيجة ل توصيل فكرة أو جملة او حكم على يصبح لا طلب . تناقض هذه استطاع مما تسبب في تداخل الحوار متداخلة . يذاكر هذه تعني إلى عن على دراسة أنواع إتبع قال معبرة أنواع _ تداخل التداخل ، وسواء تداخل التداخل الذي يظهر تأثير استعمال إتبع قال معبرة من قبل المضيف والنجوم ضيف . إلى عن على إجابه سؤال البحث والبحث _ هذه استعمال المنهجية وصفي نوعي . بجانب هذا هو البحث هذه يشير إلى النظرية التي طرحها جيفرسون (1984) ، وشكلوف (2000) ، وسيرل (1985) حول إتبع قل ، انتهى يمكن أن تتداخل ، والعوائق والمشتتات _ يظهر خلال تداخل تداخل يحدث . حلقات البودكاست 60 و 73 و 80 من جلسات قناة Dive Studios Podcast على اليوتيوب K pop أصبح عرض ديباك مصادر بيانات البحث . يذاكر هذه تجد الذي - التي اكتب إتبع قال معبرة في كثير من الأحيان _ القبض تداخل تداخل يكون مجاملات ، اكتب تداخل التداخل المتكرر _ تأثير استعمال إتبع قال معبرة يكون انتقالية ، وتأثيراتها أكثر _ وجدت عاقبة مظهر خارجي تداخل التأثير على التداخل _ استعمال إتبع قال معبرة يكون التكرار. الاقتراح الأول إلى عن على الباحثين الذين سوف اتى يكون استعمال دراسة هذه مثل المرجعي متى إرادة فعل دراسة حول إتبع قال معبرة . الاقتراح الثاني إلى عن على هم جدد _ ابدأ البث. يذاكر هذه يحتمل تبين كم ثمن فعال دردشة بودكاست مع استعمال دراسة هذا . على سبيل المثال ، متى نتحدث كيف _ استعمال إتبع قال التعبير المناسب والاحترام _ _ منعطف أو دور التحدث إلى أشخاص آخرين لذلك لا يزعج الحديث

Don’t interrupt me while I’m speaking: Interruption in Everyday and Institutional Settings in Chinese

Interruption is a common phenomenon in conversation. Previous research of interruption has focused on three main aspects: the identification of interruption in relation to overlaps or overlapping speech, the categorisation of cooperative and disruptive interruptions, and the relationship between interruption and certain social factors, for instance, power asymmetry and gender differences. However, little attention has been paid to the degree of intrusiveness. Likewise, not much has been done to explore interactional factors that may intersect with interruptions. With these important research gaps in mind, I aim to explore the relationship between intrusiveness and interactional dimensions of interruptions in the Chinese context in this study. Two sets of conversational data were collected: telephone conversations and TV talk show conversations. The conversation analytic method was used to examine the fine-grained details of speakers’ conversational interaction (Haugh, 2012). Statistical methods were used to test the relationship between factors related to interruptions. Results from a linear regression model indicate that, in both settings, speakers tend to heed and boost the current information flow (e.g., supplementing further details) when expressing affiliative stances. More specifically, in the institutional conversation, speakers orient their interruption utterances towards the their assigned institutional role and task (Goffman, 1981; Heritage & Greatbatch, 1991). In the telephone conversation, there are frequent early interruptions, affiliative interruptions, and unexpected cases where interrupters align their opinions with the other whilst disrupting the current information flow. Based on what emerged from these analyses, I argue that the Chinese speakers in the two corpora feature a high involvement (Tannen, 2005) conversational style, which means they prioritise relationship over the task in discussion. In other words, speakers tend to distinctively emphasise their enthusiasm and engagement with the other speaker, but pay less attention to the one-speaker-at-a-time turn-taking rule (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974). The finding of relationship-focus of Chinese talk-in-interaction supports the argument that Chinese society largely adheres to the polychronic time orientation (Hall, 1984). This study contributes to CA methodology by combining rigorous quantification methods with close examination of sequential organisation of interruptions. It is innovative in measuring intrusiveness by incorporating two aspects of interruptions: the interrupter’s stance-taking and the interrupter’s sequential alignment with the information flow of the prior utterance. In so doing, this study contributes to the understanding of interruption by demonstrating that intrusiveness is a gradient concept on a measurable continuum rather than a binary concept that is either cooperative or intrusive. This study contributes to the investigation into Chinese talk-in-interaction, particularly speakers’ conversational style, by proposing a novel perspective: interruption. Keywords: Interruption, intrusiveness, affiliation, information flow, interruption marker, interruption timing, Chinese talk-in-interactio