23. A method for invoking a tapered prompt associated with a multimodal application, the method being implemented on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of user interaction with the multimodal application, the modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the method comprising acts of: identifying a first prompt element and a second prompt element of the tapered prompt; identifying a first value of at least one first attribute associated with the first prompt element; rendering a first multimodal prompt associated with the first prompt element in a first style selected from a plurality of styles based at least in part on the first value of the at least one first attribute, the first multimodal prompt comprising a first speech prompt and a first textual prompt, the first style comprising a first speech style for the first speech prompt and a first textual style for the first textual prompt; identifying a second value of at least one second attribute associated with the second prompt element; and rendering a second multimodal prompt associated with the second prompt element in a second style selected from the plurality of styles based at least in part on the second value of the at least one second attribute, the second multimodal prompt comprising a second speech prompt and a second textual prompt, the second style comprising a second speech style for the second speech prompt and a second textual style for the second textual prompt, the second speech style being different from the first speech style, the second textual style being different from the first textual style and being selected to match the second speech style.
23. A method for invoking a tapered prompt associated with a multimodal application, the method being implemented on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of user interaction with the multimodal application, the modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the method comprising acts of: identifying a first prompt element and a second prompt element of the tapered prompt; identifying a first value of at least one first attribute associated with the first prompt element; rendering a first multimodal prompt associated with the first prompt element in a first style selected from a plurality of styles based at least in part on the first value of the at least one first attribute, the first multimodal prompt comprising a first speech prompt and a first textual prompt, the first style comprising a first speech style for the first speech prompt and a first textual style for the first textual prompt; identifying a second value of at least one second attribute associated with the second prompt element; and rendering a second multimodal prompt associated with the second prompt element in a second style selected from the plurality of styles based at least in part on the second value of the at least one second attribute, the second multimodal prompt comprising a second speech prompt and a second textual prompt, the second style comprising a second speech style for the second speech prompt and a second textual style for the second textual prompt, the second speech style being different from the first speech style, the second textual style being different from the first textual style and being selected to match the second speech style. 25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the at least one first attribute comprises a prompt counter shadow variable and a source expression attribute whose value depends upon a value of the prompt counter shadow variable, and wherein the method further comprises: identifying the first speech prompt based at least in part on the value of the source expression attribute.