A Hybrid Architecture For Natural Language Understanding

R.Bruce Loatman

doi:10.1117/12.940649

11 May 1987 A Hybrid Architecture For Natural Language Understanding

R.Bruce Loatman

Proceedings Volume 0786, Applications of Artificial Intelligence V; (1987) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.940649
Event: 1987 Technical Symposium Southeast on Optics, Electro-Optics, and Sensors, 1987, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The PRC Adaptive Knowledge-based Text Understanding System (PAKTUS) is an environment for developing natural language understanding (NLU) systems. It uses a knowledge-based approach in an integrated hybrid architecture based on a factoring of the NLU problem into its lexi-cal, syntactic, conceptual, domain-specific, and pragmatic components. The goal is a robust system that benefits from the strengths of several NLU methodologies, each applied where most appropriate. PAKTUS employs a frame-based knowledge representation and associative networks throughout. The lexical component uses morphological knowledge and word experts. Syntactic knowledge is represented in an Augmented Transition Network (ATN) grammar that incorporates rule-based programming. Case grammar is used for canonical conceptual representation with constraints. Domain-specific templates represent knowledge about specific applications as patterns of the form used in logic programming. Pragmatic knowledge may augment any of the other types and is added wherever needed for a particular domain. The system has been constructed in an interactive graphic programming environment. It has been used successfully to build a prototype front end for an expert system. This integration of existing technologies makes limited but practical NLU feasible now for narrow, well-defined domains.

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R.Bruce Loatman "A Hybrid Architecture For Natural Language Understanding", Proc. SPIE 0786, Applications of Artificial Intelligence V, (11 May 1987); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.940649

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