---
title: "Writing a Natural Language Data Base System"
authors:
  - "David L. Waltz"
  - "Bradley A. Goodman"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1977/31"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1977/0031.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1977
pages: "144-149"
track: "Natural Language"
keywords:
---

# Writing a Natural Language Data Base System

David L. Waltz, Bradley A. Goodman

*Proceedings of the Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 144-149.

## Abstract

We present a model for processing English requests for information from a relational data base. The model has as its main steps (a) locating semantic constituents of a request; (b) matching these constituents against larger templates called concept case frames; (c) filling in the concept case frame using information from the user's request, from the dialogue context and from the user's responses to questions posed by the system; and (d) generating a formal data base query using the collected information. Methods are suggested for constructing the components of such a natural language processing system for an arbitrary relational data base. The model has been applied to a large data base of aircraft flight and maintenance data to generate a system called PLANES; examples are drawn from this system.