Abstract
The problem of designing a relational database for an information system is a complex one; it involves the analysis of an informal, and often incomplete, statement about some enterprise and then formal application of the established theories.
This paper describes the first phase of the design of a natural language interpreter for constructing NIAM (Nijssen's Information Analysis Method) conceptual schemas. The entire system is intended as a tool for modelling relational databases. The analyst interacts with the system about a particular Universe of Discourse (UoD) using example sentences in natural language. From the example input, the system constructs the conceptual schema of a particular UoD. During the process, the analyst may subsequently retrieve and alter the information until the conceptual schema design phase is complete. The model is used to construct the relational database. The first phase of the system described in this paper constructs a ‘first pass’ at elementary fact types, the basic units of knowledge representation in NIAM. This involves the following:
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•allocating entity type names and role names on the basis of sentence instances supplied by the analyst;
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•automatic support for splittability decision, the key factor in determining elementary fact types.
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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Dunn, L., Orlowska, M. (1990). A natural language interpreter for the construction of conceptual schemas. In: Steinholtz, B., Sølvberg, A., Bergman, L. (eds) Advanced Information Systems Engineering. CAiSE 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 436. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0000592
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0000592
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