[Dialogue Macrogame Theory Home Page]

Dialogue Macrogame Theory (DMT)

Dialogue Macrogame Theory is an attempt to make explicit the connectedness and coherence of certain kinds of dialogues. It is a way to describe entire dialogues (or excerpts if desired) by using a systematic analysis method. The analyst is always a person, one who is exercising judgment and using various kinds of social, cultural and technical knowledge.

DMT is a replacement for an earlier theory called Dialogue Game Theory. DMT is usable to analyze the entirety of far more dialogues than Dialogue Game Theory could. It describes the intentions of dialogue participants, identifying intentions with their various acts in interaction.

The principal kind of organizing element in DMT is the macrogame . Macrogames are structures consisting of partially specified intentions. The intentions come in groups, to be held by both participants, and the grouping facilitates coordinated acceptance and dismissal of individual intentions. The structure of each macrogame ensures that when the macrogame is in use, the participants have one or more joint intentions as well as communication-related individual intentions. The coming and going of particular macrogames is presented using a negotiation metaphor of bidding and accepting bids.

In addition to the macrogames, there are structures called unilaterals . Unilaterals are used to represent non-collaborative activity within dialogues. Establishing interaction, various kinds of polite acts, acknowledgement, announcements and termination of interaction are done primarily using unilaterals.

The framework, which is still under development, currently has about 20 macrogames, 15 unilaterals and 8 varieties of communicative action.

The initial announcement of DMT was in a paper presented at the SIGdial Workshop associated with the ACL conference of July 2002. That paper serves as this website's introduction to DMT, available here.