Method and apparatus for recognizing a user personality trait based on a number of compound words used by the user

1. A method of recognizing a personality trait associated with a user, comprising:

receiving input from the user, the input comprising a plurality of words;

analyzing the input to determine a number of words that are in the plurality of words, a number of compound words that are in the plurality of words, and a part of speech of at least one of the plurality of words; and

determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on the number of words, the number of compound words, and the part of speech of the at least one of the plurality of words,

wherein determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on the number of compound words comprises determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on whether the number of compound words exceeds a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the act of receiving user input further comprises:

receiving at least one spoken utterance of the user; and

performing automated speech recognition on the at least one spoken utterance to generate the user input.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the act of determining the personality trait associated with the user further comprises:

determining whether the number of words in the user input exceeds a first threshold value;

determining whether the number of compound words exceeds a second threshold value; and

for a part of speech identified in the plurality of words, determining whether a number of occurrences of the part of speech in the plurality of words exceeds a third threshold value associated with the part of speech.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying one of a plurality of sets of personality questions to be posed to the user based on the determined personality trait.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

posing the identified one of the sets of personality questions to the user;

receiving, from the user, a response to each personality question in the identified one of the plurality of sets; and

based, at least in part, on the response to each personality question, generating a revised personality trait.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

providing a dialog output to the user, wherein the dialog output that is provided to the user is selected based on the determined personality trait.

7. An article of manufacture for recognizing a personality trait associated with a user, the article of manufacture comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more instructions which when executed implement a method of:

receiving input from the user, the input comprising a plurality of words;

analyzing the input to determine a number of words that are in the plurality of words, a number of compound words that are in the plurality of words, and a part of speech of at least one of the plurality of words; and

determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part on the number of words, the number of compound words, and the part of speech of the at least one of the plurality of words,

wherein determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on the number of compound words comprises determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on whether the number of compound words exceeds a threshold.

8. A computer comprising:

at least one tangible memory that stores processor-executable instructions for recognizing a personality trait associated with a user; and

at least one hardware computer processor, coupled to the at least one tangible memory that executes the processor-executable instructions to:

receive input from the user, the input comprising a plurality of words;

analyze the input to determine a number of words that are in the plurality of words, a number of compound words that are in the plurality of words, and a part of speech of at least one of the plurality of words; and

determine the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part on the number of words, the number of compound words, and the part of speech of the at least one of the plurality of words,

wherein determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on the number of compound words comprises determining the personality trait associated with the user based, at least in part, on whether the number of compound words exceeds a threshold.