10.5 Register and Consistency | Voice User Interface Design 2004

(57)

To whom do you wish to speak?

(58)

Who would you like to speak to?

(59)

Who do you wanna talk to?

Example (57) is the most formal, and (59) is the least. The following specific linguistic features differentiate the register of these questions:

Formal "To whom . . .?" versus informal "Who . . . to?"
Formal "wish" versus less formal "would like" versus "want to," pronounced colloquially as "wanna"
"Speak" versus more informal "talk" to mean "have a conversation"

For Halliday (1994), register is a multidimensional construct that consists of three components:

Mode refers to the channel of communication for example, written versus spoken, in person versus remote. This parameter is invariable in VUIs.
Field has to do with the content of the discourse as well as the social setting in which the language is being used. Field is often reflected in word choice.
Tenor involves the roles and relationships of the participants. In other words, who is talking to whom? Imagine, for example, that the caller has just heard, "Sorry, but there's a problem with that passcode" and is then asked to visit the registration Web site. In (60) through (63), we have four wording possibilities. Although their function in context is synonymous, they differ in tenor.

(60)

You must visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.^[5]

^[5] As we have seen, the use of social must in (60) is not typical of spoken English, although it is popular in touchtone and VUI applications.

(61)

Please visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.

(62)

. . . but why don't you visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com?

(63)

You might want to visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.

Because (62) and (63) are indirect requests, they imply a social relation between the speaker and listener that is different from that of (60) and (61); the speaker in (62) and (63) is more polite and more deferential.

Furthermore, these wordings illustrate an important linguistic concept: The literal, superficial meaning of an utterance is often different from the meaning it conveys in context. Only literally is (62) a question, and only literally does (63) assert the possibility of a desire ("might want"). In actuality, these are socially intelligent ways of telling someone to go do something. In any case, the tenor of messages in an application depends largely on the persona chosen for that application, along with the persona's intended social role vis-à-vis the user.

You must consider mode, field, and tenor when writing prompts. Whatever you decide in terms of the most appropriate register for your application, make sure it's exercised consistently throughout your dialog. Inconsistent register mars the first draft of an otherwise impeccable dialog design for a money transfer demo shown in (64) through (67).

(64)

What account do you want to transfer from?

(65)

What account do you wish to transfer to?

(66)

I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Say the name of the account you wish to transfer money to. For example, you could say, "Savings account."

(67)

You wish to transfer five hundred dollars from your savings account to your money market account. Is this correct?

These prompts transmit social cues that clash. This particular use of wish (65 67) is literary, and in speech it conveys social distance and impersonality.^[6] In addition, (67) reflects formal written discourse in its use of this as a back-pointer. On the other hand, sentence-final prepositions (64 66) are conversational. Example (66) uses the formal, distant, impersonal-sounding wish, but the use of "could" (in "you could say, 'Savings account'") to make a request is relatively personal, indirect, and gentle. (Compare, for example, "You must see a doctor" with "You could see a doctor.") Dissonant social cues in these prompts undermine the establishment of a single voice belonging to a coherent personality.

^[6] There is a conversational use of wish, but it expresses contrary-to-fact desire, as in "I wish it would stop raining" or "I wish I had a million dollars."

When reviewing dialog specifications, we occasionally get feedback about the use of prepositions at the end of sentences. Consider the following:

(68)

AUTO ATTENDANT:	Who would you like to speak to?

(69)

TRAFFIC:	What "hot spot" do you want a report for?

(70)

BANKING:	What account are you transferring from?

(71)

Please say the name of the person to whom you'd like to speak.

(72)

Please tell me the "hot spot" for which you would like a traffic report.

(73)

Please say from which account you would like to transfer funds.

In actuality, the use of who instead of whom in (68) and the sentence-final placement of prepositions in (68) through (70) is not only acceptable in conversation but also characteristic of conversation.