MIDAS - The Morphological Component of the IDA System for Efficient Natural Language Interface Design

The framework of our research originates from natural language processing and deductive database technology. Deductive databases possess superior functionality relevant to the efficient solution of many problems in practical applications, yet there still exists no broad acquaintance. As main obstacle we identified the absence of any user-friendly interface. Natural language interfaces have been proposed as optimal candidate, however, in spite of the vast number of ambitious attempts to build natural language front ends, the achieved results were rather disappointing. In our opinion the main reason for this is missing integration, responsible for insufficient performance and wrong interpretation. In our Integrated Deductive Approach (IDA) the interface constitutes an integral part of the database system itself which guarantees the consistent mapping from the user query to the appropriate semantic application model. This paper focuses on MIDAS, the morphological analysis component. We adapt the lexical approach by storing only canonical forms as dictionary entries and attaching to them all morphological features. We do not only consider word endings but also cover prefixes, derivations, and compound words. We prove the feasibility of IDA by use of a case study, the design and implementation of a production planning and control system.