ontolog-forum
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [ontolog-forum] Semantic Systems

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:39:10 -0400
Message-id: <4A4515CE.3050709@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Adrian,    (01)

AW> Would you include English semantics under "Semantic Systems"?    (02)

Unrestricted English semantics is still a research area.  It is
not in the current range of semantic tools that people have
been developing.    (03)

AW> If so the paper [1] may be of interest, as would be Attempto
 > and your work in this area. 
www.reengineeringllc.com/A_Wiki_for_Business_Rules_in_Open_Vocabulary_Executable_English.pdf    (04)

Those are controlled languages that can be read "as if" they were
English, but their semantics is defined by the axioms that are
stated in their notations.  (Although there are semi-automated
tools that extract info from unrestricted English as an aid to
writing ontologies and formal specifications.)    (05)

I realize that you don't like to call your "Executable English"
a controlled NL.  But the semantics of the assertions made in
your system are *identical* to the semantics of equivalent
statements made in Attempto or any other controlled NL.    (06)

AW> [1] describes the only online system I know of that integrates
 > the meanings of: English, formal spec for an inference engine,
 > (meta)data, and automatically generated and executed SQL, with
 > English explanations of results.    (07)

Those are the kinds of actions that are supported by controlled NLs.
Some of them do indeed generate explanations (i.e., deduction steps)
that are expressed in the same language (CNL) used for input.
You should ask Norbert Fuchs, who ran the recent workshop on CNLs.    (08)

But in any case, I have always recommended that you would get more
publicity by advertising it as a CNL.  Making claims that you have
implemented unrestricted English just invites people to dismiss
you as a crank.    (09)

In any case, I am giving a 3-hour tutorial on CNLs next month, and
I'll mention your system as an example.    (010)

John    (011)


_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/  
Config Subscr: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/  
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ 
To join: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J
To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    (012)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>