Spoken Language Processing in the Framework of Human-Machine Communication at LIMSI

Spoken Language Processing in the Framework of Human-Machine Communication at LIMSI J. Mariani LIMSI-CNRS, BP 133 91403 Orsuy cedex, FRANCE mariani@frtim51.bitnet or marianiQlimsi.fr ABSTRACT The paper provides an overview of the research conducted at LIMSI in the field of speech processing, but also in the related ar- eas of Human-Machine Communication, including Natural Lan- guage Processing, Non Verbal and Multimodal Communication. Also presented are the commercial applications of some of the re- search projects. When applicable, the discussion is placed in the framework of international collaborations. INTRODUCTION The initial work on Text-to-Speech synthesis and Word- Based recognition resulted in the development of software and hardware (including an Asic) systems which have since been marketed, and used in different applications such as cockpit design. Some of the problems encountered in their practical use are discussed. The development of a speaker verification system presently under test field trials is also presented. Our speech research program is now oriented along two main axes: Voice Dictation and Spoken Dialog. The suc- cessive steps of the voice dictation project are presented, and the difficulties specific to the French language in this task are highlighted. For the dialog project, the integra- tion of linguistic and pragmatic information with continuous speech recognition in the context of air controller training is described. While this paper focuses on our speech processing projects, other efforts in related areas, such as character recognition and computer vision with algorithms derived from those developed for speech processing are mentioned. Speech processing is placed in the general framework of Human-Machine Communication. This is reflected in the structure of the laboratory, by the relationship of the Speech Communication group with the two other components of the Human-Machine Communication department: the Lan- guage ~ Cognition and Non- Verbal Communication groups. When applicable, the projects of the laboratory are situated in the general context of European/international coopera- tive actions. Perspectives on the directions of research are given. LIMSI & CNRS The LIMSI laboratory is a "full" CNRS (French National Research Agency) laboratory. The acronym stands for "Lab- oratoire d'Informatique pour la M6canique et les Sciences de t'Ing6nieur" (Laboratory of Informatics for Mechanical, Chemical and Electrical Engineering). CNRS is the French National Research Agency. It was created in 1939. With 12,000 permanent researchers and 15,000 permanent technical and administrative staff, it is probably the largest research institution in Europe. It has 375 full laboratories, and 1000 academic "associated" labo- ratories. The 1991 budget of CNRS was 2,000 M$ (74% for salaries). CNRS has a general director, and is divided into 6 different scientific departments, each having a scientific director. LIMSI is attached to the "Engineering Sciences" department, with a secondary attachment to the "Social and Human Sciences" Department. There are also 40 advisory committees, forming the "Na- tional Committee for Scientific Research", and correspond- ing to general research areas. Those committees are respon- sible for evaluating the quality of each laboratory and of each researcher. LIMSI is principally attached to the com- mittee 7 (Information Sciences and Technologies: …

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