Abstract: Techniques are provided for resolving ambiguity in natural language speech. Speech is recognized using automatic speech recognition. A theory of discourse analysis is determined and at least one set of candidate discourse functions is determined based on the theory of discourse analysis. Prosodic features in the speech and a correlation between the prosodic features and the discourse functions is determined. The sets of candidate discourse functions are ranked based on the prosodic features in the speech information and a correlation to the prosodic features expected for the determined discourse functions. Ambiguity is resolved between sets of candidate discourse functions based on the rank information.