Amazon Alexa VUI Design: Slot Type Cross Reference Worksheets – Updated December 7, 2019

Blog Header Image Alexa Slot Type Cross Reference Worksheets
Blog Header Image Alexa Slot Type Cross Reference Worksheets

Update December 7, 2019

The worksheets have been updated to reflect expanded locale support for the PhoneNumber and Ordinal slot types. Amazon’s announcement:

The Built-In FallbackIntent, PhoneNumber Slot (Beta), and Ordinal Slot (Beta) Get Expanded Locale Support

Introduction

The Amazon reference documentation and Alexa Developer Console (ADC) organizes the available built-in slot types by region. However it is not easy to see which slots are available when designing skills for use across multiple regions. These can be time consuming to research.

This article provides two cross reference worksheets to make it easier to see which slot types are available by region. The first worksheet covers the five english-speaking regions. The second worksheet covers the regions for other languages.

References

Two sources were used to develop and validate the worksheets.

Alexa Developer Console – Custom Slot Types

The Alexa Developer Console (ADC) was accessed and used to identify the available slot types for each region. When you log in and access the slot types, you will notice they are organized into two groups: “List Slot Types,” and “Numbers, Dates and Times.”

Alexa Developer Console List Slot Type Configuration. English (US).
Alexa Developer Console List Slot Type Configuration. English (US).
Alexa Developer Console List Slot Type Configuration. English (US).
Alexa Developer Console List Slot Type Configuration. English (US).

Alexa Skills Kit – Slot Type Reference

The official documentation was used to cross-check what is available via the ADC, as well as identify slots that are being deprecated. This document has much more detailed information about each slot type in comparison to the abbreviated descriptions in the worksheets.

Alexa Slot Type Reference Documentation
Alexa Slot Type Reference Documentation

The documentation for “Numbers, Dates and Times” should be reviewed thoroughly, as there is a substantial amount of information regarding formats.

Alexa Slot Type Reference Documentation - English (US) Category selected
Alexa Slot Type Reference Documentation – English (US) Category selected

What are Slot Types?

If you are just starting out, slot types can be a bit confusing at first.

Slots for “Numbers, Dates and Times” help Alexa recognize requests in a variety of formats. For example, if a user says “noon”, the slot type for time helps recognize this word as being the same as 12:00 pm.

Here’s another example. Dates can be spoken many different ways by users, and the date slot helps manage this. For example, a user might say “tomorrow, “December twenty fifth, “the twenty fifth of December,” and so on. These words are captured, and converted into a format that can be used for processing, such as retrieving date-related schedules or setting up appointments.

“List” in “List Slot Type” simply refers to slot types which have a series of values, such as a list of cities, colors and so on. They help Alexa recognize, match up and capture what a user is saying, to help make sure their intention is understood.

I also think of slots as “the variable part” of a user’s utterance. Imagine a user saying the following:

“Alexa, I want to fly to Portland tomorrow.”

In the above, The intent is that the user wants to fly somewhere. Where they want to fly is Portland. When they want to fly is tomorrow.

Portland” is a city. To capture this from the user, you might use slot type AMAZON.City in your design. During the interaction, “Portland” might be captured by Alexa, validated and converted to the corresponding text. Your design might then have this text mapped into a variable.

Likewise, “tomorrow” might be captured using the AMAZON.DATE slot type in your design. Alexa would convert it to an actual date, and your design might have this mapped into a second variable.

Your design might then use the values in the variables, along with other information such as the User’s local airport, to look up flights in a travel system via an API.

There are many design considerations when it comes to slots, and Amazon provides a substantial amount of documentation. If you are just learning about slots, this document is a good starting point.

Alexa Skills Kit – Create Intents, Utterances and Slots

If you are using a skill-building tool such as Voiceflow Creator, tutorials are readily available which describe how to use slots in more detail. For example, the following tutorial explains how to configure slots in an Interaction Block, in combination with intents and choices.

Voiceflow Docs – Interaction Block

Slot Type Cross Reference Worksheets

Our objective is to save time when designing skills, particularly those intended for use in multiple regions. Rather than hunting and pecking through the ADC or the reference documentation, the following worksheets should help.

In addition to the charts in the web page below, the worksheets can also be downloaded in .pdf format.




Slot Type Cross Reference Worksheet for the English Regions

List Slot Typesen-USen-CAen-UKen-AUen- INDescription / Notes
AMAZON.ActorNames of actors and actresses.
AMAZON.AdministrativeAreaGeographical regions that are typically under the jurisdiction of a particular government.
AMAZON.AggregateRatingWords describing the overall rating for an item. For example, “four star,” “top five,” and “highly rated.”
AMAZON.AirlineNames of a variety of airlines.
AMAZON.Airport

Names of a variety of airports.
AMAZON.Anaphor

Recognizes words that are anaphors representing an item, such as "this", "that", and "it".
AMAZON.Animal

Names of many different animals.
AMAZON.Artist

Full names of artists.
AMAZON.AT_CITYDDAProvides recognition for over 5,000 Austrian and world cities commonly used by speakers in Germany and Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.AT_REGIONDDAProvides recognition for over 1000 geographic regions in Austria, Europe and the rest of the world commonly used by speakers in Germany or Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.Athlete

Full names of athletes.
AMAZON.Author
Full names of authors. / en-AU = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.Book

Titles of books.
AMAZON.BookSeries

Titles of multi-book series.
AMAZON.BroadcastChannel

Names and abbreviations of broadcast channels, such as TV and radio stations.
AMAZON.City
Provides recognition for local and world cities commonly used by speakers in the locale in which the slot type is used.
AMAZON.CivicStructure

Words and phrases describing public structures and facilities, such as “town hall”, “bus stop”, and others.
AMAZON.Color

Names of colors.
AMAZON.Comic

Titles of comic books.
AMAZON.Corporation

Full names of corporations.
AMAZON.Country

Names of Countries/Regions around the world.
AMAZON.CreativeWorkType

Words for different types of creative works, such as “song” or “show”.
AMAZON.DayOfWeek

Calendar days of the week.
AMAZON.DE_CITY

DDAProvides recognition for over 5,000 German and world cities commonly used by speakers in Germany and Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.DE_FIRST_NAME

DDAThousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers in Germany. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.FirstName instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.DE_REGION


DDAProvides recognition for over 1000 geographic regions in Austria, Europe and the rest of the world commonly used by speakers in Germany or Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.Dessert

Names of various desserts.
AMAZON.DeviceType

Words for different types of devices, such as “laptop”.
AMAZON.Director

Full names of film directors.
AMAZON.Drink

Names of beverages.
AMAZON.EducationalOrganization

Names of schools, colleges, and other educational institutions.
AMAZON.EUROPE_CITY

DDAProvides recognition for over 5,000 European and world cities. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.EventType

Words describing different types of events. For example, “networking event,” “party,” and “meetup.”
AMAZON.Festival

Names of festivals.
AMAZON.FictionalCharacter


Names of fictional characters from books, movies, television shows, and other fictional works.
AMAZON.FinancialService

Names of businesses that provide financial services.
AMAZON.FirstName
Thousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers in the United States. This slot type recognizes both formal names and nicknames. The name sent to your service matches the value spoken by the user. That is, the Alexa service does not attempt to convert from the nickname to the formal name. For first names that sound alike, but are spelled differently, the Alexa service typically sends your service a single common form.
AMAZON.Food

Names of food items.
AMAZON.FoodEstablishment

Names of businesses that serve food.
AMAZON.Game

Names of many different games.
AMAZON.GB_CITY

DDAProvides recognition for over 15,000 United Kingdom and world cities commonly used by speakers in the United Kingdom. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.GB_FIRST_NAME

DDAThousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers in the United Kingdom. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.FirstName instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.GB_REGION

DDAProvides recognition for counties and regions of the United Kingdom. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.Genre

Names of many different genres that can be used to describe music, books, television shows, and other media.
AMAZON.Landform

Names of landforms such as mountains, plains, lakes, rivers, bays, peninsulas, and seas. For example, “mount everest.”
AMAZON.LandmarksOrHistoricalBuildings

Names of historical buildings and landmarks.
AMAZON.Language

Natural languages such as Spanish, Tamil, Hindi, and English.
AMAZON.LocalBusiness

Names of businesses.
AMAZON.LocalBusinessType

Words describing different types of businesses a user might search for. For example, “men’s clothing stores,” “delis,” and “medical clinics.”
AMAZON.MedicalOrganization

Names of medical organizations (physical or not) such as hospitals, institutions, or clinics. For example, “fullerton vision center.”
AMAZON.Month

Names of calendar months.
AMAZON.Movie

Titles of movies.
AMAZON.MovieSeries
Titles of several multi-movie series. For example, “alien” and “star wars.”
AMAZON.MovieTheater

Names of movie theaters.
AMAZON.MusicAlbum

Names of music albums.
AMAZON.MusicCreativeWorkType

Words describing different types of musical works, such as songs and tracks.
AMAZON.MusicEvent


Names of music-related events, such as music festivals and concerts.
AMAZON.MusicGroup

Names of musical groups. Includes both individual performers and groups such as bands, orchestras, or choirs.
AMAZON.Musician

Full names of musicians.
AMAZON.MusicPlaylist

Names commonly used to describe playlists for music.
AMAZON.MusicRecording

Titles of music recordings or tracks. Each title normally represents a single song.
AMAZON.MusicVenue

Names of venues that are used for musical performances.
AMAZON.MusicVideo

Titles of music videos.
AMAZON.Organization

Names of non-governmental organizations. For example, “amazon” and “microsoft.”
AMAZON.Person

Full names of real and fictional people. For example, “Barack Obama” and “Batman.”
AMAZON.PostalAddress

Street addresses, consisting of the building or house number and street name.
AMAZON.Professional
Full names of well-known professionals. For example, “Jeff Bezos."
AMAZON.ProfessionalType

Words describing a variety of professions. For example, “banker,” “architect,” and “drummer.”
AMAZON.RadioChannel

Names of radio channels and programs.
AMAZON.Region
Provides recognition for counties and regions commonly used by speakers in the skill’s locale. For example, this recognizes regions common to Indian English speakers in en-IN skills.
AMAZON.RelativePosition

Recognizes words that represent the relative position of an item in a list, such as “top,” “last,” “left,” and “middle.”
AMAZON.Residence

Names of well-known residences.
AMAZON.Room

Names of rooms typical in houses and other buildings.
AMAZON.ScreeningEvent

Names of events for screening films.
AMAZON.Service

Names of services. For example, “fresh julienne wedding and event catering” and “coastal culinary personal chef service.”
AMAZON.SocialMediaPlatform

Names of social media platforms.
AMAZON.SoftwareApplication

Names of software programs and apps.
AMAZON.SoftwareGame

Names of software games, such as quiz games, trivia games, puzzle games, word games, and other video games.
AMAZON.Sport

Names of sports.
AMAZON.SportsEvent

Names of sporting events.
AMAZON.SportsTeam

Names of many sports teams.
AMAZON.StreetAddress

The names of streets used within a typical street address. Note that these names just include the street name, not the house number.
AMAZON.StreetName

The names of streets used within a typical street address. Note that these names just include the street name, not the house number. For example, “Main Street.”
AMAZON.TelevisionChannel

Names and abbreviations for television channels.
AMAZON.TVEpisode

Titles of television episodes.
AMAZON.TVSeason

Names of seasons of television shows. For example, “amazing race 2.”
AMAZON.TVSeries

Titles of many television series.
AMAZON.US_CITY

DDAProvides recognition for over 15,000 United States and world cities commonly used by speakers in the US. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.US_FIRST_NAME

DDAThousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers United States. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.FirstName instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.US_STATE

DDANames of US states, territories, and the District of Columbia. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead. A = Not identified in the documentation, but available via the Alexa Developer Console.
AMAZON.VideoGame

Titles of video games.
AMAZON.VisualModeTrigger

Recognizes words that indicate that a visual response is expected, such as "show" or "display".
AMAZON.WeatherCondition

Names of a variety of weather conditions, such as rain, cold, or humid.
AMAZON.WrittenCreativeWorkType

Words describing written works, such as books and poems.
Number of available built-ins9443434431
Numbers, Dates, Times
and SearchQuery
en-USen-CAen-UKen-AUen- INDescription / Notes
AMAZON.DATE

Converts words that indicate dates (“today”, “tomorrow”, or “july”) into a date format (such as “2015-07-00T9”).
AMAZON.DURATION

Converts words that indicate durations (“five minutes”) into a numeric duration (“PT5M”).
AMAZON.FOUR_DIGIT_NUMBER

Converts words that represent four-digit numbers (“six oh four five” into digits (“6045”).
AMAZON.NUMBER

Converts numeric words (“five”) into digits (such as “5”).
AMAZON.Ordinal


Converts ordinal numbers ("first", "second", etc.) into digits (1, 2, etc.).
AMAZON.PhoneNumber


Converts the numbers or words that represent a phone number into a string format without punctuation.
AMAZON.TIME

Converts words that indicate time (“four in the morning”, “two p m”) into a time value (“04:00”, “14:00”).
AMAZON.SearchQuery

A search query like you might enter into a standard search engine.
Number of available built-ins88888

Slot Type Cross Reference Worksheet for the non-English Regions

List Slot Typesfr- CAfr- FRde-DEit- ITjp- JPpt- BRes- ESes- MXes- UShi- INDescription / Notes
AMAZON.ActorNames of actors and actresses.
AMAZON.AirlineNames of a variety of airlines.
AMAZON.Airport

Names of a variety of airports.
AMAZON.Animal

Names of many different animals.
AMAZON.Artist

Full names of artists.
AMAZON.AT_CITYDProvides recognition for over 5,000 Austrian and world cities commonly used by speakers in Germany and Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead.
AMAZON.AT_REGIONDProvides recognition for over 1000 geographic regions in Austria, Europe and the rest of the world commonly used by speakers in Germany or Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead.
AMAZON.Author
Full names of authors.
AMAZON.Book

Titles of books.
AMAZON.City
Provides recognition for local and world cities commonly used by speakers in the locale in which the slot type is used. For example, Indian cities when used in an en-IN skill.
AMAZON.Color

Names of colors.
AMAZON.Corporation

Full names of corporations.
AMAZON.Country

Names of Countries/Regions around the world.
AMAZON.CreativeWorkType

Words for different types of creative works, such as “song” or “show”.
AMAZON.DayOfWeek

Calendar days of the week.
AMAZON.DE_CITY

DProvides recognition for over 5,000 German and world cities commonly used by speakers in Germany and Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead.
AMAZON.DE_FIRST_NAME

DThousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers in Germany. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.FirstName instead.
AMAZON.DE_REGION


DProvides recognition for over 1000 geographic regions in Austria, Europe and the rest of the world commonly used by speakers in Germany or Austria. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead.
AMAZON.EUROPE_CITY

DProvides recognition for over 5,000 European and world cities. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead.
AMAZON.FictionalCharacter


Names of fictional characters from books, movies, television shows, and other fictional works.
AMAZON.FirstName
Thousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers in the United States. This slot type recognizes both formal names and nicknames. The name sent to your service matches the value spoken by the user. That is, the Alexa service does not attempt to convert from the nickname to the formal name. For first names that sound alike, but are spelled differently, the Alexa service typically sends your service a single common form.
AMAZON.Food

Names of food items.
AMAZON.GB_CITY

DProvides recognition for over 15,000 United Kingdom and world cities commonly used by speakers in the United Kingdom. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead.
AMAZON.GB_FIRST_NAME

DThousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers in the United Kingdom. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.FirstName instead.
AMAZON.GB_REGION

DProvides recognition for counties and regions of the United Kingdom. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead.
AMAZON.Genre

Names of many different genres that can be used to describe music, books, television shows, and other media.
AMAZON.Language

Natural languages such as Spanish, Tamil, Hindi, and English.
AMAZON.Month

Names of calendar months.
AMAZON.Movie

Titles of movies. / it-IT, AMAZON.movie is under numbers, dates and times in the Alexa Developer Console
AMAZON.MusicAlbum

Names of music albums.
AMAZON.MusicGroup

Names of musical groups. Includes both individual performers and groups such as bands, orchestras, or choirs.
AMAZON.Musician

Full names of musicians.
AMAZON.MusicRecording

Titles of music recordings or tracks. Each title normally represents a single song.
AMAZON.Person

Full names of real and fictional people. For example, “Barack Obama” and “Batman.”
AMAZON.RadioChannel

Names of radio channels and programs.
AMAZON.Region
Provides recognition for counties and regions commonly used by speakers in the skill’s locale. For example, this recognizes regions common to Indian English speakers in en-IN skills.
AMAZON.Room

Names of rooms typical in houses and other buildings.
AMAZON.Sport

Names of sports.
AMAZON.StreetName

The names of streets used within a typical street address. Note that these names just include the street name, not the house number. For example, “Main Street.”
AMAZON.TVSeries

Titles of many television series.
AMAZON.US_CITY

DProvides recognition for over 15,000 United States and world cities commonly used by speakers in the US. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.City instead.
AMAZON.US_FIRST_NAME

DThousands of popular first names commonly used by speakers United States. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.FirstName instead.
AMAZON.US_STATE

DNames of US states, territories, and the District of Columbia. / D = Deprecation path. For better results, use AMAZON.Region instead.
AMAZON.VideoGame

Titles of video games.
AMAZON.VisualModeTriggerRecognizes words that indicate that a visual response is expected, such as "show" or “display". / fr-FR not in documentation but available in Alexa Developer Console
Number of available built-ins30324331323131313113
Numbers, Dates, and Times
fr- CAFr- FRDe- DEit- ITjp- JPpt-BRes-ESes- MXes- UShi- INDescription / Notes
AMAZON.DATE

Converts words that indicate dates (“today”, “tomorrow”, or “july”) into a date format (such as “2015-07-00T9”).
AMAZON.DURATION

Converts words that indicate durations (“five minutes”) into a numeric duration (“PT5M”).
AMAZON.FOUR_DIGIT_NUMBER

Converts words that represent four-digit numbers (“six oh four five” into digits (“6045”).
AMAZON.NUMBER

Converts numeric words (“five”) into digits (such as “5”).
AMAZON.Ordinal
Converts ordinal numbers ("first", "second", etc.) into digits (1, 2, etc.).
AMAZON.PhoneNumber
Converts the numbers or words that represent a phone number into a string format without punctuation.
AMAZON.SearchQuery

A search query like you might enter into a standard search engine.
AMAZON.TIME

Converts words that indicate time (“four in the morning”, “two p m”) into a time value (“04:00”, “14:00”).
Number of available built-ins8888888888

Conclusion

This article presented two cross reference worksheets to make it easier to see which slot types are available by region. As VUI Designers, the benefit is that they can help when designing interactions for skills which will be used across multiple regions.

Thank you for reading, and happy skill building!

Credits

Header photo by fbatista72 on depositphotos