A Taxonomy of Conceptual Alignment in Human-Robot Dialogue

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.22360v1
• Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 07:03:54 GMT
• Title: A Taxonomy of Conceptual Alignment in Human-Robot Dialogue
• Abstract summary: This paper argues for a design-centric understanding of conceptual alignment as a bidirectional and co-constructive process.<n>We introduce a taxonomy that characterizes conceptual alignment dialogues along what triggers its initiation and what level(s) of conceptual understanding it concerns.
• Score: 11.160627282474694
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: Successful conversations require speakers to align on the meaning of concepts, a challenging but crucial task for human-robot interaction. Understanding the process of establishing such alignment is hindered by competing interpretations of the term and isolated, unidirectional investigations of its design space. This paper argues for a design-centric understanding of conceptual alignment as a bidirectional and co-constructive process. We introduce a taxonomy that characterizes conceptual alignment dialogues along what triggers its initiation and what level(s) of conceptual understanding it concerns. We further present a dialogue act schema as an operational tool that captures the interactional moves through which alignment is achieved. Together, these contributions provide a structured foundation for analyzing, comparing, and designing conceptual alignment in human-robot interaction.

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