Predictive Recognition-based Linguistic Communication Without Using Natural Language

Abstract

We communicate naturally by predictively recognizing utterance based on situation, context, and knowledges. We think that predictive recognition makes robots without ability to speak natural language possible to do linguistic communication. In this paper, we focus on Shiritori, a word game, as a simple linguistic communication to verify the hypothesis. Shiritori restricts players' utterance because of the rules, and also has several typical reply patterns. Therefore, we can easily predict partner's utterances compared with normal conversations. In order to reply predictable words, we construct kindergartener-level vocabulary. Furthermore, we make audio data with the cooperation of voice actors for the rich expression of the words. Experimental result implied that we can play Shiritori even if a player does not speak natural language.