A General Semantic Analyser for Data Base Access

Abstract

The paper discusses the design principles and current status of a natural language front end for access to data bases. This is based on the use, first, of a semantically-oriented question analyser exploiting general, language-wide semantic categories and patterns, rather than data basespecific ones; and, second, of a data base-oriented translation component for obtaining search specifications from the meaning representations for quest ions derived by the analyser • This approach is motivated by the desire to reduce the effort of providing data base-specific material for the front end, by the. belief that a general analyser is well sui ted to the "casual" data base user , and by the assumption that the rich semantic apparatus used will be both adequate as a means of analysis and appropriate as a tool for linking the characterisations of input and data language items. The paper describes this approach in more detail, with emphasis on the existing, tested, analyser.