4 research outputs found
Abductive Equivalential Translation and its application to Natural Language Database Interfacing
The thesis describes a logical formalization of natural-language database
interfacing. We assume the existence of a ``natural language engine'' capable
of mediating between surface linguistic string and their representations as
``literal'' logical forms: the focus of interest will be the question of
relating ``literal'' logical forms to representations in terms of primitives
meaningful to the underlying database engine. We begin by describing the nature
of the problem, and show how a variety of interface functionalities can be
considered as instances of a type of formal inference task which we call
``Abductive Equivalential Translation'' (AET); functionalities which can be
reduced to this form include answering questions, responding to commands,
reasoning about the completeness of answers, answering meta-questions of type
``Do you know...'', and generating assertions and questions. In each case, a
``linguistic domain theory'' (LDT) and an input formula are given,
and the goal is to construct a formula with certain properties which is
equivalent to , given and a set of permitted assumptions. If the
LDT is of a certain specified type, whose formulas are either conditional
equivalences or Horn-clauses, we show that the AET problem can be reduced to a
goal-directed inference method. We present an abstract description of this
method, and sketch its realization in Prolog. The relationship between AET and
several problems previously discussed in the literature is discussed. In
particular, we show how AET can provide a simple and elegant solution to the
so-called ``Doctor on Board'' problem, and in effect allows a
``relativization'' of the Closed World Assumption. The ideas in the thesis have
all been implemented concretely within the SRI CLARE project, using a real
projects and payments database. The LDT for the example database is described
in detail, and examples of the types of functionality that can be achieved
within the example domain are presented.Comment: 162 pages, Latex source, PhD thesis (U Stockholm, 1993). Uses
style-file ustockholm_thesis.st
Quantifier Scoping In The Sri Core Language Engine
An algorithm for generating the possible quantitier scopings for a sentence, in order of preference, is outlined. The scoping assigned to a quanttrier is determined by its interactions with other quanttriers, toodais, negation, and certain syntacticconstituent boundaries. When a potential scoping is logically equivalent to another, the less preferred one is discarded