Using Natural Language for Database Design

This paper deals with a natural language dialogue tool for supporting the database design process. We want to illustrate how natural language (German) can be used for obtaining a skeleton design and for supporting the acquisition of semantics of the prospective database. The approach is based on the assumption that verbs form a central part in defining the meaning of sentences and imply semantic roles in the sentences which have to be filled by objects. We are using a moderated dialogue for drawing the designer's attention to these objects in order to extract comprehensive information about the domain.