Dick, (01)
The design space for English-like languages is very large.
It's important to analyze and compare many different variations
and their relative advantages for expressibility, computability
usability, readability, writability, learnability, etc. The
various human factors are distinct and tradeoffs are necessary. (02)
RHM> mKR ( http://mKRmKE.org/ ) is a controlled language which is
> English-like. I believe mKR is fully compatible with the Common
> Logic standard. (03)
We have been discussing controlled natural languages for specifying
ontologies, rules, axioms, queries, etc. Adrian Walker has a related
version, which he calls Executable English. There are many different
variations of English-like syntax for these languages and an even
wider range of semantics and possible applications. (04)
I recently came across another example called CQL, Constellation
Query Language: (05)
http://dataconstellation.com/ActiveFacts/CQLIntroduction.pdf (06)
CQL is more specialized and stylized than ACE or CLCE, and most
sentences are not fully grammatical English. Examples: (07)
Person is identified by given Name and family Name where
Person has exactly one family Name,
Person has exactly one given Name; (08)
Directorship is where Person directs Company; (09)
Person has family Name,
family Name = ‘Bloggs’,
Person is not called given Name ‘Fred’,
Person is a kind of Employee,
Employee is managed by no Manager; (010)
for each ReceivedItem exactly one of these holds:
ReceivedItem is for PurchaseOrderItem,
ReceivedItem is for TransferRequest; (011)
Diplomat speaks Language;
Country uses Language;
Diplomat serves in Country;
Diplomat serves in Country only if
Country uses Language and Diplomat speaks Language; (012)
CQL was designed for a semantic modeling toolkit called ActiveFacts: (013)
http://dataconstellation.com/ActiveFacts/ (014)
Following is an article about CQL by the designer. Access to the full
article requires a free registration to the Business Rules Journal. (015)
John Sowa
______________________________________________________________________ (016)
http://www.brcommunity.com/a2008/b437.html (017)
Natural language, Semiotics, SBVR, ORM, and CQL
by Clifford Heath (018)
When I utter a word, that word has some meaning for me, and I hope that
when you hear it, the word will invoke a corresponding meaning in your
mind. The science of semiotics studies the way symbols (such as words)
relate to meanings, and yields insight into the nature of meaning
itself. Its fundamental insight, shared by Object Role Modeling and the
Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules (SBVR), is that the
meaning of any symbol exists only in the relationships of that symbol to
other symbols... (019)
In natural language, every word is interpreted in the context of the
other words in the surrounding context. There is no word that can stand
alone having an intrinsic meaning. This is what makes natural language
so fluid and difficult to process or pin down. In SVBR and other
fact-oriented approaches, additional restrictions apply — within a
defined vocabulary, a noun may only have one meaning. In the fact type
'Person runs Company', the words Person and Company each mean exactly
one concept. On the other hand, other linking words such as the verb
'runs' may have more than one meaning. It's allowed to state that
'Person runs Race', where the verb has a different meaning than before.
It is allowed because the verb is used in a different expression (in
[Object Role Modeling], a different fact type reading)... (020)
In the Constellation Query Language (CQL), which I'm defining as part of
the ActiveFacts project, the same general approach as ORM2 is taken.
An extended introduction to the Constellation Query Language is here:
http://dataconstellation.com/ActiveFacts/CQLIntroduction.pdf . CQL is
capable of representing any ORM2 model, and an export tool is available
to generate CQL from NORMA... (021)
CQL also allows a vocabulary to import another vocabulary, declaring
correspondences and equivalences between imported and local concepts.
This solves the 'I say Pot-a-to, you say Pot-ar-to' problem, and allows
the same vocabulary to be represented in many languages. Vocabularies
can be constructed of many small parts and, even when the parts are
constructed in isolation with conflicting terminology, can be merged
into a shared vocabulary with overlaps and aliasing where necessary. Do
we do business with Clients, or Customers? It doesn't matter, as long
as each noun has a single meaning within the limited vocabulary it
spans, and when the vocabularies are used together, any aliasing,
conflicts, or correspondences are noted. Correspondences in CQL can
only be declared between nouns, which makes it difficult to handle
correspondence between fact types that aren't nominalised... (022)
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