A Written Experiment on Retrieval Dialogue.

An experiment is described for determining the vocabulary and grammar of user retrieval requests in natural English as a guide in the design of a language for man-machine communication through a typewriter console. This experiment tested written dialog in follow-up to an experiment that tested oral dialog. Subjects repeated behavior observed in oral dialog of disregarding instructions and phrasing queries in non-sentential messages, and may reflect the subject's assumptions about his status relative to the system. Written language structures were more precise than those used in oral communication. Instructions to the subjects, their dialogs, and dialog requests grouped by statement type (declarative, imperative, and interrogative) are appended. The ten subjects included high school students, graduate students, a librarian, and a professor. (Author)