Hc1 2009--2010: Assessed Assignment 3
annotating dialogue
TO BE
UPDATED FOR 2010/11
Issued: Thursday 4th March, Deadline: 12 noon, Thursday 25th March
Your task is to annotate a given
transcript of a video at the level of speech acts and then annotate it
with the communicative intent. The video will give you nonverbal clues
as well as the sound of the speech: both can be important in
deciphering and annotating the intention of what is said in the
dialogue.
The video is an interview between an journalist, Jeremy Paxman, and a
politician, Tony Blair. The video is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJIjTviLLTs&feature=related:
Transcript of the video is given
below. The interviewer's turns
are transcribed as P, and the interviewee's turns are transcribed as B.
The topic is the number of illegal immigrants in Britain at the time of
the interview.
P: Can you give us a rough idea of how many
there are maybe?
B: At
this point I am speculating on that. What I do know ...
P: Is it
ten of thousands? Hundred of thousands? Millions?
B: I said
I don't think there is any point in speculating. But I can say ...
P: But
you have no idea
B:
(Stutters) Well, it's not a question of having no idea.
P: But
what is your idea Prime minister?
B: What I
can say is how many people are applying for asylum month by month. How
many people are you removing and what is the backlog and we are dealing
with all the (not understandable because of laughter).
P: Prime
minister, you have really no idea of how many failed asylum seekers
there are illegally in this country.
B: I
can't ...
P: You
don't know.
B: …
because people are here illegally...
P: You
don't know.
B:
...which is difficult for the very reason...
P: You
don't know.
1. Annotate the transcript at the level of speech acts: example
labels you might use are the following (in alphabetical order):
accusation
|
indication
of
what clarifications can be made |
repetition
with
clarification |
| avoidance |
interruption |
repetition
of
refusal to answer with qualification |
| clarification
request |
nonverbal
|
rephrasing
question
as a statement |
| defence |
providing
a
partial answer |
rephrasing
the
question |
| denial
of
accusation |
question
and
probing |
speculation
|
| forceful
clarification |
redirect
question |
|
| indication
of
inappropriateness of question |
refusal
to
answer with qualification |
|
Feel free to modify the
label and extend the set proposed in the examples. You do not need to
use all the labels listed. You should however ensure that the full
transcript is annotated. In a number of cases you may decide to
annotate an utterance, or part of an utterance, with more than one
label.
Indicate clearly the set of labels that you use.
2. Annotate the transcript at the level of the particular speaker's
intent, example labels you might use are:
accusation
of
ignorance
challenge
demonstration of knowledge
irony
ridicule
As with question 1, feel free to modify the label and extend the
set proposed; you do not need to use all the labels listed; the full
transcript should be annotated; an utterance may have more than
one label; indicate clearly the set of labels that you use.
3.
Consider each of the following statements that might be proposed as
indicating the (possible) communicative intent of the interview
participants:
- The interviewer (P) wishes to show
the interviewee's (B) lack of knowledge
- B follows P's agenda
- P tries to undermine the
audience's confidence in B
- B is ridiculed
- P accommodates to the status B
- B believes the question is
irrelevant to the issue of discussion
- P and B show agreement on the
issue of discussion
- B is manipulated by P
- P respects B
- B comes off well in the interview
- P comes off well in the interview
For each
statement:
- argue whether or not the statement is supported by the
interview;
- illustrate each answer by providing evidence from the
transcripts using the relevant annotation labels.
4. Consider the methods that you have used in annotating and
interpreting this interview. Comment briefly on which aspects of this
process were straightforward and which were more difficult, and why
this might be.
-------------------------------------------------------
Assessments should be submitted to the Informatics Teaching Office
(ITO) in Appleton
Tower, Room 4.02, Level 4. You
must submit a single typed copy of each assignment---please make sure
you staple the
pages together.
Please make sure
that the
assignments are clearly marked with your full name, matriculation
number, the course title, your tutorial group, and the assignment
number.
Please note the policy
on late assignments.
