LDC-1: a transportable, knowledge-based natural language processor for office environments

During the 1970s, a number of systems providing limited English-language processing capabilities were developed to permit computer access by casual or untrained users. The authors interest is in adapting and extending techniques developed for these systems, especially those used in database query systems and their own English-language programming language system (NLC), for use in office environments. This paper describes the layered domain class system LDC, a state-of-the-art natural language processor whose major goals are (1) to provide english-language retrieval capabilities for medium-sized office domains that have been stored on the computer as text-edited files, as opposed to more restrictive database structure; and (2) to eliminate the need to call in the system designer when extensions into new domains are desired, without sacrificing the depth or reliability of the interface. In this paper the authors (a) provide an overview of LDC, including sample inputs; (b) briefly discuss the role of each module of the system, with special attention to provisions for users to adapt the system to deal with new types of data; and (c) consider the relation of our system to other formal and natural language interfaces that are in use or under development. 77 references.

[1]  Harry R. Tennant Experience with the Evaluation of Natural Language Question Answerers , 1979, IJCAI.

[2]  Marjorie Templeton EUFID: A Friendly and Flexible Front-End For Data Management Systems , 1979, ACL.

[3]  Madeleine Bates,et al.  Information retrieval using a transportable natural language interface , 1983, SIGIR 1983.

[4]  Alan W. Biermann,et al.  Interactive Natural Language Problem Solving: A Pragmatic Approach , 1983, ANLP.

[5]  Robert F. Simmons,et al.  Answering English questions by computer: a survey , 1965, CACM.

[6]  B. H. Thompson,et al.  Linguistic Analysis of Natural Language Communication With Computers , 1980, COLING.

[7]  David Hawkins,et al.  An Analysis of Expert Thinking , 1983, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[8]  Frederick B. Thompson,et al.  Practical Natural Language Processing: The REL System as Prototype , 1975, Adv. Comput..

[9]  Frederick B. Thompson,et al.  Shifting to a higher gear in a natural language system , 1981, AFIPS '81.

[10]  E. F. Codd,et al.  A relational model of data for large shared data banks , 1970, CACM.

[11]  Gary G. Hendrix,et al.  Transportable Natural-Language Interfaces to Databases , 1981, ACL.

[12]  Jerrold M. Ginsparg A Robust Portable Natural Language Data Base Interface , 1983, ANLP.

[13]  George E. Heidorn,et al.  Natural language inputs to a simulation programming system: An introduction , 1971 .

[14]  Ralph Grishman,et al.  The restriction language for computer grammars of natural language , 1975, CACM.

[15]  Alan W. Biermann,et al.  An Experimental Study of Natural Language Programming , 1983, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[16]  P. S. Gingrich,et al.  The writer's workbench: Computer aids for text analysis , 1982 .

[17]  Bruce W. Ballard,et al.  An English-language processing system that "learns" about new domains , 1983, AFIPS '83.

[18]  Larry R. Harris User Oriented Data Base Query with the ROBOT Natural Language Query System , 1977, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[19]  Alan W. Biermann,et al.  Toward Natural Language Computation I , 1980, CL.

[20]  David L. Waltz,et al.  An English language question answering system for a large relational database , 1978, CACM.

[21]  Lance A. Miller,et al.  Project EPISTLE: A System for the Automatic Analysis of Business Correspondence , 1980, AAAI.

[22]  Keith T. Wescourt,et al.  Cognitive style, categorization, and vocational effectss on performance of REL database users , 1981, CHI '81.

[23]  S. Jerrold Kaplan Indirect responses to loaded questions , 1978, TINLAP '78.

[24]  William Mark,et al.  Representation and Inference in the Consul System , 1981, IJCAI.

[25]  Daniel G. Bobrow,et al.  A frame driven dialog system , 1980 .

[26]  Richard T. Kelly,et al.  User Performance with a Natural Language Query System for Command Control. , 1979 .

[27]  George E. Heidorn Augmented phrase structure grammars , 1975, TINLAP '75.

[28]  Leonard Bolc,et al.  Natural language question answering systems , 1980 .

[29]  Jean E. Sammet The use of English as a programming language , 1966, CACM.

[30]  Jane J. Robinson DIAGRAM: a grammar for dialogues , 1986, CACM.

[31]  David Wilczynski,et al.  Knowledge Acquisition in the Consul System , 1981, IJCAI.

[32]  Vaughan R. Pratt,et al.  LINGOL: a progress repor , 1975, IJCAI 1975.

[33]  V. Prati,et al.  LINGOL-A Progress Report , 1975, IJCAI.

[34]  Ralph Grishman,et al.  Question Answering from Natural Language Medical Data Bases , 1978, Artif. Intell..

[35]  Lance A. Miller,et al.  Text-critiquing with the EPISTLE system: an author's aid to better syntax , 1981, AFIPS '81.

[36]  George E. Heidorn Automatic Programming Through Natural Language Dialogue: A Survey , 1976, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[37]  Frederick B. Thompson,et al.  Introducing ASK, A Simple Knowledgeable System , 1983, ANLP.

[38]  E. F. Codd,et al.  RENDEZVOUS Version 1: An Experimental English Language Query Formulation System for Casual Users of Relational Data Bases , 1978, Research Report / RJ / IBM / San Jose, California.

[39]  Gary G. Hendrix Human Engineering for Applied Natural Language Processing , 1977, IJCAI.

[40]  Fred J. Damerau,et al.  Operating Statistics for the Transformational Question Answering System , 1981, CL.

[41]  Larry R. Harris,et al.  The ROBOT System: Natural language processing applied to data base query , 1978, ACM Annual Conference.

[42]  Warren J. Plath REQUEST: A Natural Language Question-Answering System , 1976, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[43]  Stanley R. Petrick On Natural Language Based Computer Systems , 1976, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[44]  Barbara J. Grosz,et al.  TEAM: A Transportable Natural-Language Interface System , 1983, ANLP.

[45]  Robert F. Simmons,et al.  Computational Linguistics Natural Language Question- Answering Systems: 1969 , 2022 .

[46]  Hubert Lehmann,et al.  Interpretation of Natural Language in an Information System , 1978, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[47]  Robert Wilensky,et al.  Artificial Intelligence and Language Processing Talking to Unix in English: an Overview of Uc , 2022 .

[48]  Gary G. Herdrix Human engineering fcr applied natural language processing , 1977, IJCAI 1977.

[49]  Alan W. Biermann,et al.  Programming in natural language: “NLC” as a prototype , 1979, ACM '79.

[50]  John Mylopoulos TORUS - A Natural Language Understanding System For Data Management , 1975, IJCAI.

[51]  Israel Spiegler Modelling Man-Machine Interface in a Data Base Environment , 1983, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[52]  William A. Woods,et al.  Computational Linguistics Transition Network Grammars for Natural Language Analysis , 2022 .

[53]  Phyllis Reisner,et al.  Human Factors Studies of Database Query Languages: A Survey and Assessment , 1981, CSUR.

[54]  George E. Heidorn Natural Language Dialogue For Managing An On-Line Calendar , 1978, ACM Annual Conference.

[55]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Natural Vs. Precise Concise Languages for Human Operation of Computers: Research Issues and Experimental Approaches , 1980, ACL.

[56]  John Seely Brown,et al.  MULTIPLE REPRESENTATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR TUTORIAL REASONING , 1975 .

[57]  Gary G. Hendrix,et al.  Developing a natural language interface to complex data , 1977, TODS.

[58]  John D. Burger,et al.  Problems in Natural-Language Interface to DBMS With Examples From EUFID , 1983, ANLP.

[59]  Steven L. Small,et al.  Word Expert Parsing , 1979, ACL.

[60]  Diane C. P. Smith,et al.  Database abstractions: aggregation and generalization , 1977, TODS.

[61]  William A. Woods,et al.  Semantics and Quantification in Natural Language Question Answering , 1986, Adv. Comput..

[62]  Mitchell P. Marcus,et al.  A theory of syntactic recognition for natural language , 1979 .

[63]  Gary G. Hendrix,et al.  An Approach to Acquiring and Applying Knowledge , 1980, AAAI.

[64]  Daniel G. Bobrow,et al.  GUS, A Frame-Driven Dialog System , 1986, Artif. Intell..

[65]  Naomi Sager,et al.  Natural Language Information Formatting: The Automatic Conversion of Texts to a Structured Data Base , 1978, Adv. Comput..

[66]  Mark James,et al.  An Artificial Intelligence Approach to Language Instruction , 1978, Artif. Intell..

[67]  E. F. Codd,et al.  Seven Steps to Rendezvous with the Casual User , 1974, IFIP Working Conference Data Base Management.

[68]  Timothy W. Finin,et al.  JETS: Achieving Completeness through Coverage and Closure , 1979, IJCAI.