![]() But we can get them to act as if they understand,” says Heldner.Ĭomputers have already been talking to us for some time in games and in customer service centres. “We have far to go before computers comprehend as much as people. But it’s currently impossible to program a computer with all the nuances found in a normal conversation. The goal of Heldner’s research is to create computers which can converse with us in a human way. The finer aspects of perception are among the things that separates a machine from a fellow interlocutor of skin and bone. “The person who hums incorrectly can be perceived as a nuisance,” says the Swedish researcher Heldner. If the sound deviates from the pitch in the conversation, or comes at the wrong time, it will disturb the discussion. Actually such sounds and this conversational behaviour are not supposed to be given real attention, or be consciously noticed. ![]() The sounds mustn’t be used inappropriately. Other sounds like this are signals to keep the verbal ball in your court, to continue speaking if you don’t want to let the other have a turn yet. If you get a “huh?” that means it isn’t going so well. They just say something about how the communication is progressing. Such sounds are not always confirming, explains Svennevig. We have become so used to them that we get nervous when they are left out,” says Simonsen. “I think these sounds are totally necessary. His colleague Hanne Gram Simonsen, another professor of linguistics at UiO, concurs. “We actually need to say ‘mhm’ when the other speaks for a long time, to signal that they can continue,” says Svennevig. He prefers to call them acceptance signals. Jan Svennevig says Norwegians have many of these sounds too. It’s to ensure that the message has been received,” he says. The person speaking only waits when he thinks the other person isn’t picking up what’s being said. “As a rule, we don’t wait for the humming. Jan Svennevig, a professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo (UiO), doesn’t wholly agree. We also signal this to the other person with eye contact,” says Heldner. ![]() “The melody rises in the last syllable before the speaker’s pause. “The person talking gives room for the humming with occasional halts,” says Heldner, and pauses a little so that the journalist can also let out an “mmm-hmm.” Waiting for those who don’t understandīut the listener in a conversation already knows before the break in speech what is coming – perceives that it is time for humming. The Swedish researchers also looked into how long people wait for such feedback. They also have seen that this humming arises as interplay between the conversational partners. The researchers noticed that the conversational partners have a tendency to mimic the person they are speaking with. Heldner and colleagues analysed 120 Swedish conversations lasting a half hour each to see how the sounds were used. “Mhm” and an inhaled “yah” help make the conversation flow, asserts Jan Svennevig, professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo (UiO). ![]()
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