Showing papers by "Tamas L. Horvath published in 1990"

A natural language interface based on attribute grammars

Abstract: The paper gives an overview of a natural language interface currently being developed at the Research Group on Theory of Automata at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Attila József University, Szeged. The interface supports natural language communication between the user issuing commands as steps in plane geometry constructions and the actual graphical presentation. The Natural Language Interface named CONSTRUCTOR is described and the experiences of the authors are outlined with a view to generalizing the results thus obtained.

Attribute Grammar Specification for a Natural Language Understanding Interface

Abstract: The paper investigates key issues pertaining to Natural Language Interface [NLI] development. The notion of natural language understanding interfaces (NLUIs) is introduced. Special attention is devoted to problems related to the specification of natural language ‘static’ semantics. The points we raise involve the applicability of attribute grammars to NLUI design. The considerations to be developed stem from the insight gained through experience drawn from the creation of a NLUI to a software called THALES. THALES is a program package for plane geometry constructions. Following a brief introduction to the principal modules of the interface, an outline of the linguistic features of the sublanguage is presented. A more thorough description of the semantic module is given. It is argued that attribute grammars are highly suitable for specifying and generating different modules of NLUIs. The idea of differentiating between static and dynamic semantics as a basis for capturing NLUI semantics is introduced.

THALES: a software package for plane geometry constructions with a natural language interface

Abstract: THALES is a software package for plane geometry constructions, supplied with a natural language interface. Using THALES requires no knowledge of a programming language. The interface is capable of processing practically all kinds of instructions within the subset of plane geometry English. The "static semantic" module has been generated on the basis of a high-level attribute specification. Transportability, modifiability and generality -- the key issues of natural language interface design -- are investigated in the project note. The notion of specifiability is introduced to replace the three features mentioned above.