Question Answering as a Language-game

Semantic technology research has tried to add a new layer of meaning to data to make it more accessible. As part of that, question answering system has facilitated interaction between human and computer by enabling communication in natural language. The primary focus of question answering system research has been on the analysis of the question in the sense that the answer can be predicted from the syntax and the semantics of the question. The more fundamental problem, however, lies in the pragmatic use of the question-answer pair beyond the question itself. In this paper, we elucidated how pragmatics can be integrated into a question answering system by introducing Extended Speech Act Theory and presenting real-world examples from our system. With this approach, it is anticipated that errors in the system be rectified and deeper inferences be drawn beyond the surface meaning of the speech.