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<Paper uid="P80-1019">
  <Title>Expanding the Horizons of Natural Language Interfaces</Title>
  <Section position="5" start_page="72" end_page="72" type="concl">
    <SectionTitle>
4. Conclusion
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> In this paper, 1 have taken the position that natural language interfaces to computer systems will never be truly natural until they include non-literal as web as literal aspects of communication. Further, I claimed that in the light of the new technology of powerful personal computers with integral graphics displays, the best way to incorporate these non-literal aspects was nol to imitate human conversational patterns as closely as possible, but to use the technology in innovative ways to perform the same function as the non-literal aspects of communication found in human conversation.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> In any case, I believe the old-style natural language interfaces in which the user and system take turns to type on a single scroll of paper (or scrolled display screen) are doomed. The new technology can be used, in ways similar to those outlined above, to provide very convenient and attractive interfaces that do not deal with natural language. The advantages of this type ol interface will so dominate those associated with the old-style natural language interfaces that continued work in that area will become ol academic interest only.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="2"> That is the challenge posed by the new technology for natural language interfaces, but it also holds a promise. The promise is that a combination of natural language techniques with the new technology will result in interfaces that will be truly natural, flexible, and graceful in their interaction. The multiple channels of information flow provided by the new technology can be used to circumvent many of the areas where it is very hard to give computers the intelligence and knowledge to perform as well as humans. In short, the way forward for natural language interfaces is not to strive for closer, but still highly imperfect, imitation of human behaviour, but tO combine the strengths of the new technology with the great human ability to adapt to communication environments which are novel but adequate for their needs.</Paragraph>
  </Section>
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