Commentator: a computer model of verbal production

Abstract

The Commentator is a small-scale computer implementation of a model oftext production. The system simulates human behavior from the perceptionof events on a screen to the utterances. It is designed to allow anyone havingsome knowledge of Basic and access to a microcomputer to study the semantics of words (e.g. localization and movement predicates such asapproach, left/right, near, in front of, turn, overtake), pronouns, and sentence connectives such as however, also. The system also allows experimentation with different text strategies and systems of speech production. The system has practical applications in automatic commentators, talking robots, and similar systems often referred to in the field of Artificial Intelligence.