The natural language of interaction: A perspective on non-verbal dialogues

The argument is made that the concept of ‘natural language understanding systems’ should be extended to include non-verbal types of dialogue. The claim is made that such interfaces are, in many ways, more natural than those based on words. Furthermore, it is argued that the hopes for verbal natural language systems are out of proportion with the potential gains when compared to natural non-verbal interfaces. The benefits of non-verbal natural language systems can be delivered by technology available today, and in general, the benefits will most likely exceed those of verbal interfaces (if and when they ever become generally available).