SpeechLab Stock Grammars
Stock Grammars are a collection of common phrases that were assembled for use in Xbox One titles. These phrases are useful across many titles, work well with our speech recognizers, and are tested to ensure that they work well with each other.
The SpeechLab PC tool contains the following types of Stock Grammar phrases.
- Menu screen phrases
- Navigation phrases
- Media transport phrases
- In-game phrases
- Communication phrases
- Confirmation phrases
Menu screen phrases
Menu screen phrases correspond to common UI features of games and apps. These phrases should be used on a main menu or submenu of your title. In most cases, you will need to supplement these phrases with custom phrases that are defined by your game or app.
| Phrase | Description | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Main Menu | Navigate to the main menu or title screen. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar when voice prompt text is displayed on menu screens. It should also be available in all non-gameplay menu screens except for the main menu. |
| Settings | Display the settings menu. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Settings" item. Differentiation: Settings is the default phrase for game and user configuration menu screens. The Options phrase should be used only when you need to distinguish between user and game settings. |
| Options (Alternate) | Display the options menu. This phrase should be used only when you need to distinguish between user and game settings. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays both "Settings" and "Options" items and needs to distinguish between user and game settings. Differentiation: Options refers only to user settings and should be used only when output configurations (sound management, graphics) and user settings (difficulty, game length) are located within different menus. You should always use Settings instead of Options unless a single settings menu would be too cluttered. In general, only game titles will need to distinguish between Settings and Options. |
| Continue | Continue playing the default selected game. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Continue" item and your game has detected load data for a game profile. Differentiation: Continue is also used for menu navigation as voice prompt text. |
| Quit Game | Exit to the main menu or exit the title. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Quit Game" item. The functionality of this phrase depends on the context, as follows:
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| Save Game | Display the save menu screen. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Save Game" item. This phrase is most commonly used in main menu screens and paused game menus. Differentiation: If you are not displaying a save menu and the save command is always available, use the Quick Save phrase instead. |
| Load Game | Display the load menu screen. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Load Game" item. This phrase is most commonly used in main menu screens. Differentiation: If you are not displaying a load menu and the load command is always available, use the Quick Load phrase instead. |
| Multiplayer | Select a multiplayer game type. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Multiplayer" item. |
| New Game | Select a new game in which there is no associated load data. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "New Game" item. Differentiation:New Game is used to start a new game experience without game setup menu navigation. Play Game and Start Game have distinct uses that do not include this purpose. |
| Play Game | Start gameplay, or resume gameplay from a paused game menu. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Play Game" item. Differentiation:Play Game is used to begin gameplay or to resume a game that is paused. Start Game and New Game have distinct uses that do not include resuming paused gameplay. |
| Start Game | Confirm game setup and start the core gameplay experience. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Start Game" item. Differentiation:Start Game is to start a new game experience after game setup menu navigation. Play Game and New Game have distinct uses that do not include this purpose. |
| Single Player | Select the single player game type. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Single Player" item. |
| Games Store | Take the user to a context-relevant page in the Xbox Games Store. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Games Store" item. |
| Achievements | View relevant awards and achievements pages for the active game. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays an "Achievements" item. |
| Leaderboards | Display context-relevant or overview leaderboard options in the active game. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your game displays a "Leaderboards" item. |
| Credits | Display information about the developers of the active game. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your menu screen displays a "Credits" item. |
| Recently Watched | Display the media items that the user has recently watched in your media app. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your media app displays a "Recently Watched" item. |
| Recently Added | Display the media items that were recently added to the service of your media app. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your media app displays a "Recently Added" item. |
| Favorites | Display the media items that the user has marked as favorites in your media app. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your media app displays a "Favorites" item. |
| Quit | Exit the app and return to the Xbox One Home screen. This phrase should close the current context and return the user to the previous context. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if the menu screen of your app displays a "Quit" item. Differentiation:Quit implies closing a context or killing a process. Go Back implies moving between contexts. |
| Search | Search for contextually-relevant content in an app. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app supports search functionality. Search functionality should always be indicated visually by a magnifying glass icon. |
| Sort by Name | Rearrange content alphabetically. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app is displaying a list of content that is sortable by name. |
| Sort by Date | Rearrange content by release date. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app is displaying a list of content that is sortable by release date. Differentiation:Sort by Date arranges items by release date. Recently Watched filters content based on the date that the user last watched it. |
| Show Details | Display detailed information about the selected media content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Show Details" option for a specific media content item. Differentiation:Show Details displays information about the selected media content. More displays additional phrases that the user can utter. |
| New Releases | Display the media items that were recently released in the current format. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "New Releases" item. Differentiation:New Releases displays content that is new to this format across all services. Recently Added displays content that is specifically new to your service. |
| Rate | Allow the user to rate the selected content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Rate" item. |
| Featured | Display the media items your content providers want to feature. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Featured" item. |
| Recommended | Display the media items that your service recommends specifically to the current user. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Recommended" item. Differentiation:Recommended displays content that your service recommends based on the user's previous content ratings and the occurrences of viewing other media provided by the service. Featured displays content that is hand-picked by your service providers and is not user-specific. |
| Genres | Allow the user to filter content by genre. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app is displaying a list of content that is sortable by genre. |
| Queue | Display the media items that the user has marked as items that they want to watch in the future. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Queue" item. |
| Clips | Display available clips of content that are available for your media app. Clips are not complete units of the content being viewed. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Clips" item. |
| Trailers | Display the marketing trailers for upcoming or current content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Trailers" item. Differentiation:Trailers are specifically generated as marketing content and are not always temporally accurate (they skip back and forth within the content marketed). Clips are continuous but incomplete content. |
| Sports | Display the media items that are tagged as sports content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Sports" item. |
| News | Display the media items that are tagged as news content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "News" item. |
| TV | Display the media items that are tagged as television content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "TV" item. |
| Movies | Display the media items that are tagged as movie content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Movies" item. |
| Videos | Display the media items that are tagged as video content. This is most useful if your service provides both music and video content. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Videos" item. |
| Channels | Displays all media content by service-provided channels. | This phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a "Channels" item. |
Navigation phrases
Navigation phrases are highly generic phrases that are used to navigate between pages. These phrases are displayed in the voice prompt text that appears when the Kinect sensor for Xbox One is in active listening mode.
| Phrase | Description | Best Practice | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continue | Skip over all UI elements on this screen and progress to the next screen. | Continue should appear in voice prompt text when in a navigation context. Differentiation: Use Continue when there are more pages that can be navigated to allow the user to bypass them and go to a different screen entirely. Use Next Page to allow the user to visit the next available page on the same screen. Continue is also used to continue a game. | ||
| Dismiss | Change from an active listening state to a normal listening state. This hides the voice prompt text. This phrase should be used only if your app natively supports multiple listening modes. | If your app supports multiple listening modes, Dismiss should appear in the voice prompt text.
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| Cancel | Dismiss a dialog box or screen without making a change to settings or selections. | Cancel should appear in the voice box text when your app displays a settings or selections screen. | ||
| Go Back | Navigate back one screen or close an overlay. | Go Back should appear in the voice prompt text. Disregard tabbed pages in the UI when deciding back state. Differentiation: Use Go Back when there are more pages that can be navigated to allow the user to bypass them and go to a different screen entirely. Use Previous Page to allow the user to visit the previous available page on the same screen. | ||
| Next Page | Navigate to the next page in the UI. | Next Page should appear in the voice prompt text. Differentiation: Use Next Page to allow the user to visit the next available page on the same screen. Use Continue when there are more pages that can be navigated to allow the user to bypass them and go to a different screen entirely. | ||
| Previous Page | Navigate to the previous page in the UI. | Previous Page should appear in the voice prompt text. Differentiation: Use Previous Page to allow the user to visit the previous available page on the same screen. Use Go Back when there are more pages that can be navigated to allow the user to bypass them and go to a different screen entirely. | ||
| Scroll Down | Scroll a scrollable pane down. | Scroll Down should appear in the voice prompt text. This command should be used only for scrollable panes. Do not use it to nudge the cursor down by one list item at a time. | ||
| Scroll Left | Scroll a scrollable pane left. | Scroll Left should appear in the voice prompt text. This command should be used only for scrollable panes. Do not use it to nudge the cursor left by one list item at a time. | ||
| Scroll Right | Scroll a scrollable pane right. | Scroll Right should appear in the voice prompt text. This command should be used only for scrollable panes. Do not use it to nudge the cursor right by one list item at a time. | ||
| Scroll Up | Scroll a scrollable pane up. | Scroll Up should appear in the voice prompt text. This command should be used only for scrollable panes. Do not use it to nudge the cursor up by one list item at a time. | ||
| More | Display more voice commands in extended voice prompt text. | More should appear in the voice prompt text. This phrase should be available if there are active phrases that are not currently displayed in the voice prompt text. More is allowed to break the user out of the current context into a separate menu or screen. Differentiation:More displays voice prompt text for additional active phrases. Show Details displays metadata for a specific media content item. |
Important Media transport phrases
Media transport phrases control the playback of media within an app or game.
| Phrase | Description | Best Practice | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pause | Pause the content on the screen. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a pause control. In games, Pause should always be available. If the content is paused, the Play phrase must be available to allow the user to resume playback. | ||
| Play | Play or resume the content on the screen. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a play control. In games, Play should always be available. | ||
| Skip Forward | Skip to the next media context. | Skip Forward is used only when changing media contexts, such as skipping a cinema scene to go to gameplay or to skip trailers and splash screens.
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| Rewind | Rewind the content at a constant pace. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a rewind control. Differentiation:Rewind is a continuous action. Phrases such as Previous Chapter are atomic. | ||
| Fast Forward | Progress the content at a constant pace. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a fast forward control. Differentiation:Fast Foward is a continuous action. Phrases such as Next Chapter are atomic. | ||
| Faster | Increase the rate of rewind or fast forward. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar only if your app is currently rewinding or fast-forwarding content. | ||
| Slower | Decrease the rate of rewind or fast forward. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar only if your app is currently rewinding or fast-forwarding content. | ||
| Repeat | Toggle continuous looping playback of the media content that is currently playing. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a repeat control. This phrase is a toggle, and should be used both to turn looping on and to turn it off. Differentiation:Repeat toggles looping playback. Replay plays content again after it has been consumed and has stopped playing. | ||
| Shuffle | Toggle shuffling of the current media playlist. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a shuffle control. This phrase is a toggle, and should be used both to turn shuffle on and to turn it off. | ||
| Stop | Stop playback of the current media. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a stop control. Depending on the media type, other phrases such as Replay should be made available after this command. Differentiation:Stop takes a user out of the direct consumption context. Pause does not remove the user from the consumption context. | ||
| Next Episode | Play the next episode in a television series. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the voice prompt text. Differentiation:Next Episode is specifically for Media Transport. Next is used only for navigation through menu screens. | ||
| Previous Episode | Play the previous episode in a television series. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the voice prompt text. Differentiation:Previous Episode is specifically for Media Transport. Previous is used only for navigation through menu screens. | ||
| Next Song | Play the next song in a music playlist. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a control that skips to the next song. Differentiation:Next Song is specifically for Media Transport. Next is used only for navigation through menu screens. | ||
| Previous Song | Play the previous song in a music playlist. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a control that skips to the previous song. Differentiation:Previous Song is specifically for Media Transport. Previous is used only for navigation through menu screens. | ||
| Next Chapter | Play the next chapter in a movie or video title. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a control that skips to the next chapter. Differentiation:Next Chapter is specifically for Media Transport. Next is used only for navigation through menu screens. | ||
| Previous Chapter | Play the previous chapter in a movie or video title. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a control that skips to the previous chapter. Differentiation:Previous Chapter is specifically for Media Transport. Previous is used only for navigation through menu screens. | ||
| Subtitles | Display subtitle content or closed captioning. | In media apps, this phrase should be available in the active grammar if your app displays a control that changes subtitle or closed captioning options. Subtitles should step through available subtitle options if there are multiple options available. | ||
| Replay | Replay the most recently consumed unit of media from the beginning. | In media apps, Replay should be available as voice prompt text after consumption of a media item is completed. Differentiation:Replay is used differently in games. Replay plays content again after it has been consumed and has stopped playing. Repeat toggles looping playback. |
In-game phrases
In-game phrases give players quick access to game features through voice input. These phrases should be enabled whenever the player is engaged in play.
| Phrase | Description | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Save | Save to the default location without disrupting gameplay. | Differentiation:Quick Save does not display a discrete save menu and does not pause gameplay. Save Game displays a save menu that allows the user to specify a save location. |
| Quick Load | Halt game play and load the most recent game save. | Differentiation:Quick Load does not display a discrete load menu. Load Game displays a load menu that allows the user to specify the location of the save to load. |
| Show Tutorial | Display an in-game tutorial if available. | This phrase should be available in the voice prompt text during core gameplay. It should also be active in a menu that contains a "Show Tutorial" item. "Tutorial" is a broad term that includes many different scenenarios, such as a help menu that removes the user from the game context, a separate tutorial mode, or context-relevant help that is displayed during gameplay. Differentiation:Show Tutorial displays help content for the current game. "What can I say?" is used for general help with the speech recognizer. |
| Quit Tutorial | Dismiss an active tutorial. | This phrase should be available in the voice prompt text is the user is in a tutorial. |
| Replay | Pause gameplay and summon game DVR playback. | This phrase should be available in the voice prompt text at all times during gameplay. |
| Restart | Restart the most recently completed level | This phrase should be available in the voice prompt text at all times during gameplay. |
| Show Map | Display a game map overlay or switch to a map screen context. | If it is relevant for your game, this phrase should be available in the voice prompt text at all times during gameplay. |
| Show Inventory | Display a game inventory screen or switch to an inventory context. | If it is relevant for your game, this phrase should be available in the voice prompt text at all times during gameplay. |
Communication phrases
Communication phrases allow players to communicate with other people over Xbox Live or social networking sites while in the context of a game.
| Phrase | Description | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Invite | Send a party (apps) or game (games) invitation. | The functionality of the Invite phrase is identical to the system Xbox Invite command. |
| Send Message | Send a contextual message to an Xbox player or video messaging connection. | This phrase puts the current app in Snap mode and prompts the user for the names of invitees. The functionality of the Send Message phrase is identical to the Xbox Send Message command. |
| Share | Share game or app content with another Xbox player, video messaging connection, or social networking site. | This phrase should be available in the voice prompt text at all times. |
Confirmation phrases
Confirmation phrases are used to confirm or decline a system action.
| Phrase | Description | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| No | Decline a selection. | During confirmation, Yes and No should be the only phrases in the active grammar. In most languages, Yes and No perform poorly when other phrases are in the active grammar due to the short and confusable nature of the words. |
| Yes | Confirm a selection. | During confirmation, Yes and No should be the only phrases in the active grammar. In most languages, Yes and No perform poorly when other phrases are in the active grammar due to the short and confusable nature of the words. |
| OK | Acknowledge that the user has read a message. | Differentiation:OK acknowledges that a user has read a message, for example a pop-up informing the user that settings have changed. Yes is used only when the user must decide whether or not to proceed with an action. |
| Enable | Enable a system feature or setting. | In a settings menu, Enable, Disable, and Cancel should be the only phrases in the active grammar. |
| Disable | Disable a system feature or setting. | In a settings menu, Enable, Disable, and Cancel should be the only phrases in the active grammar. |