A priori analysis of natural language queries

摘要

A model for the a priori analysis of natural language queries is presented. Such a model may be used for analyzing queries at the local user workstation and for filtering unanswerable questions. Consequently, unnecessary network traffic and unproductive work at remote information systems may be saved. An algorithm for transforming a natural language query into a logical pattern that represents the meaning of the query is suggested and illustrated. It is claimed that the completeness of the logical pattern is a useful criterion for determining the answerability of the query. The feasibility of the algorithm is tested and validated by a prototype system implemented in PROLOG.