By communicative act (CA) we mean here any "action" performed by an agent with the "intention" of being observed by (at least) one other agent when doing the "action". In this view "speech" acts [Austin 62] [Searle 69] [Searle & Vandeveken 85] are CAs. A CA is intended to be generated (i.e.,planned and performed) and to be recognized. Hence, the components of a CA model have to be determined in regard to these two "functionalities", which correspond respectively to the points of view of the agent(s) of the act and the observer(s) of the act. Although these two points of view cannot be studied (completely) separately for determining the components of a CA model, we concentrate here on the components needed for planning CAs. In our opinion, any attempt at CA modelling must be concerned with the two following points: (1) one's intuition when choosing to model some particular CA and (2) the distinction between the inherent features of a given act and the aspects which can be derived from a more general behaviour theory. As far as the mental aspects of a CA are concerned, to define a CA model is to say what core of mental attitudes is revealed by this CA.
Cite as: Sadek, M.D. (1991) Dialogue acts are rational plans. Proc. 2nd VENACO Workshop - The Structure of Multimodal Dialogue, 19-48
@inproceedings{sadek91_smmd,
author={M. D. Sadek},
title={{Dialogue acts are rational plans}},
year=1991,
booktitle={Proc. 2nd VENACO Workshop - The Structure of Multimodal Dialogue},
pages={19--48}
}