“You Can Do It Baby”: Non-Task Talk with an In-Car Speech Enabled System

Abstract

Natural language speech enabled systems are an attractive option for in-car infotainment. Differences in cultural expectations in communication, however, can pose difficulties for interface developers and cause frustration for users. We adopt the perspective of cultural discourse theory to analyze 26 drivers interacting with an in-car speech interface. We focus here on directive sequences and the phenomenon of participants using non-task talk. The analysis of these sequences reveals a norm that one ought to engage in non-task talk with the system. We suggest that this norm is grounded in a user premise that the system’s interactional status involves the ability to speak. We find that this norm lacks crystallization among participants, and we formulate a competing norm that helps to account for this. The second norm reveals an underlying belief that the system’s status as a machine is the basis for how it should be treated.

Keywords:

• Cultural Discourse Theory
• Directives
• Face
• Politeness
• Speech Enabled System

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ute Winter, Research Specialist of the Human-Machine Interface at General Motors Research and Development, Herzeliya, Israel for her collaboration on this project. The authors also gratefully acknowledge their colleagues who are part of the field research team in China: Libin Hang, Associate Professor of Communication at Donghua University, Shanghai, China and Pei Wang who is a Research Specialist of the Human-Machine Interface at General Motors in Shanghai, China.

Funding

This work was supported by General Motors, Donal Carbaugh, Principal Investigator in collaboration with Ute Winter, Research Specialist of the Human-Machine Interface at General Motors Research and Development, Herzeliya, Israel, Elizabeth Molina-Markham, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Brion van Over and Sunny Lie, Research Associates.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by General Motors, Donal Carbaugh, Principal Investigator in collaboration with Ute Winter, Research Specialist of the Human-Machine Interface at General Motors Research and Development, Herzeliya, Israel, Elizabeth Molina-Markham, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Brion van Over and Sunny Lie, Research Associates.