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I would disagree here. Especially in the context of a shopping list. If I were to say 'peanut' <pause> 'butter' my interlocutor would probably interrupt me to

I would disagree here. Especially in the context of a shopping list. If I were to say 'peanut' <pause> 'butter' my interlocutor would probably interrupt me to ask for confirmation because that would be enough to create doubt. 'Peanut' and 'butter' are two unrelated words and it is the absence of pause that creates a pseudo single word. Pauses are extremely important in spoken language and should be exploited.

jonathankoren 8y ago
If we’re assuming human level AI, maybe and not even then. Nonnative English speakers from languages without a singular/plural distinction often make use singulars where a plural is called for. Domain knowledge around the intent (making a shopping list) and around language conventions helps a lot, not only for NLU, but also for NLS. But even without a huge NLU dictionary, a simple MC or CRF segmentation model would work. As said earlier, almost no one says., “Add peanut to the shopping list.” They say, “Add peanuts”, of if they’re very atypical, “Add a peanut”. A bare “peanut” is simply unlikely.
taeric 8y ago
I think the catch is that human detection of pauses is far more fraught with difficulty than you'd imagine. Overly emphasized pauses are easy to discern, but quite a lot of speech pulls words far closer together than you would think. And this is just in english. Not all languages work with emphasis syllables and such.
- _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
  Exactly, and the difference of the length of pauses between 'syntactic' words (peanut, butter) and between compounded words (peanut-butter) will vary based on speaker and moreover, things like focus/emphasis can cause lengthening of pauses even for the latter case. ("No, Alexa, I'm not shopping for Whistler's Mother; I need to buy PEANUT BUTTER.")
ghaff 8y ago
>If I were to say 'peanut' <pause> 'butter' my interlocutor would probably interrupt me I'm on the parent's side on this. "Peanut butter" is such a common item that if someone were to pause in between the words I would assume they just got distracted for some reason. In the context of a shopping list, "peanut" singular just doesn't make sense. A better example would be something like "yogurt ice cream" which is technically incorrect but it's still something people might say. In that case, I'd expect a shorter pause than in the case of yogurt, ice cream. However, if you were dictating a list to me I'd probably ask for confirmation in either case because there's enough ambiguity.
- mamon 8y ago
  Deliberate pause sounds a bit different than a pause caused by distraction.

jonathankoren 8y ago

If we’re assuming human level AI, maybe and not even then. Nonnative English speakers from languages without a singular/plural distinction often make use singulars where a plural is called for. Domain knowledge around the intent (making a shopping list) and around language conventions helps a lot, not only for NLU, but also for NLS. But even without a huge NLU dictionary, a simple MC or CRF segmentation model would work. As said earlier, almost no one says., “Add peanut to the shopping list.” They say, “Add peanuts”, of if they’re very atypical, “Add a peanut”. A bare “peanut” is simply unlikely.

taeric 8y ago

I think the catch is that human detection of pauses is far more fraught with difficulty than you'd imagine. Overly emphasized pauses are easy to discern, but quite a lot of speech pulls words far closer together than you would think. And this is just in english. Not all languages work with emphasis syllables and such.

_emacsomancer_ 8y ago
Exactly, and the difference of the length of pauses between 'syntactic' words (peanut, butter) and between compounded words (peanut-butter) will vary based on speaker and moreover, things like focus/emphasis can cause lengthening of pauses even for the latter case. ("No, Alexa, I'm not shopping for Whistler's Mother; I need to buy PEANUT BUTTER.")

ghaff 8y ago

>If I were to say 'peanut' <pause> 'butter' my interlocutor would probably interrupt me I'm on the parent's side on this. "Peanut butter" is such a common item that if someone were to pause in between the words I would assume they just got distracted for some reason. In the context of a shopping list, "peanut" singular just doesn't make sense. A better example would be something like "yogurt ice cream" which is technically incorrect but it's still something people might say. In that case, I'd expect a shorter pause than in the case of yogurt, ice cream. However, if you were dictating a list to me I'd probably ask for confirmation in either case because there's enough ambiguity.

mamon 8y ago
Deliberate pause sounds a bit different than a pause caused by distraction.