Annotation of Communicative Functions of Short Feedback Tokens in Switchboard


Authors: Carol Figueroa, Adaeze Adigwe, Magalie Ochs, Gabriel Skantze
Paper: LREC paper

Below are the descriptions of the feedback functions with their corresponding label that we have identified in the Switchboard corpus.

Label Function Description
(C) Continue Continue speaking. I hear you and I'm listening but not necessarily agreeing/disagreeing.
(U) Non-understanding I'm uncertain I understood/heard what you said.
(A) Agree I agree with what you said.
(D) Disagree I doubt what you said is true. I disagree with what you said.
(Y) Yes I am giving a positive response/answer to your yes/no question.
(N) No I am giving a negative response/answer to your yes/no question.
(S) Sympathy I'm expressing sympathy/pity/sorrow/concern/compassion to a negative statement.
(Ds) Disapproval I am showing disapproval/disgust.
(MS) Mild Surprise I am showing mild surprise, showing slight interest.
(SS) Strong Surprise I am showing strong surprise; I am impressed.
(O) Other Not a feedback. Filler, listener trying to take turn, or not enough context to determine function.
(?) Unknown feedback A feedback that doesn't fit into the current labels.


Example of (U) Non-Understanding.


Example of (C) Continue.


Example of (A) Agree.


Example of (D) Disagree.


Example of (Y) Yes.


Example of (N) No.


Example of (S) Sympathy.


Example of (Ds) Disapproval.


Example of (MS) Mild Surprise.


Example of (SS) Strong Surprise.


Example of (O) Other.