Empowering Natural Language Interfaces to Databases  with Aggregations

A Natural Language Interface to Database (NLIDB) refers to a database interface that translates a question asked in natural language into a structured query. Aggregation questions express aggregation functions, such as count, sum, average, minimum and maximum, and optionally a group by clause and a having clause. NLIDBs deliver good results for standard questions but usually do not deal with aggregation questions. The main contribution of this article is a generic module, called GLAMORISE (GeneraL Aggregation MOdule using a RelatIonal databaSE), that extends NLIDBs to cope with aggregation questions. GLAMORISE covers aggregations with ambiguities, timescale differences, aggregations in multiple attributes, the use of superlative adjectives, basic recognition of measurement units, and aggregations in attributes with compound names.

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A Novel Solution for the Aggregation Problem in Natural Language Interface to Databases (NLIDB)

10.5753/sbbd.2020.13644 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Alexandre Ferreira Novello ◽

Marco Antonio Casanova

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Basic Unit ◽

Aggregation Functions ◽

Natural Language Interface ◽

Aggregation Problem ◽

The Creation ◽

Multiple Attributes ◽

Generic Module

Natural Language Interface to Databases (NLIDB) systems usually do not deal with aggregations, which can be of two types: aggregation functions (such as count, sum, average, minimum, and maximum) and grouping functions (GROUP BY). This paper addresses the creation of a generic module, to be used in NLIDB systems, that allows such systems to perform queries with aggregations, on the condition that the query results the NLIDB returns are or can be transformed into tables. The paper covers aggregations with specificities, such as ambiguities, timescale differences, aggregations in multiple attributes, the use of superlative adjectives, basic unit measure recognition, and aggregations in attributes with compound names.

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Issues in the Syntactic Parsing of Queries for a Natural Language Interface to Databases

Handbook of Research on Natural Language Processing and Smart Service Systems - Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-4730-4.ch007 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 157-179

Author(s):

Alexander Gelbukh ◽

José A. Martínez F. ◽

Andres Verastegui ◽

Alberto Ochoa

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Experimental Tests ◽

Syntactic Parsing ◽

Natural Language Interfaces ◽

Natural Language Interface ◽

Overall Performance

In this chapter, an exhaustive parser is presented. The parser was developed to be used in a natural language interface to databases (NLIDB) project. This chapter includes a brief description of state-of-the-art NLIDBs, including a description of the methods used and the performance of some interfaces. Some of the general problems in natural language interfaces to databases are also explained. The exhaustive parser was developed, aiming at improving the overall performance of the interface; therefore, the interface is also briefly described. This chapter also presents the drawbacks discovered during the experimental tests of the parser, which show that it is unsuitable for improving the NLIDB performance.

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Two New Challenging Resources to Evaluate Natural Language Interfaces to Databases Generated Based on Geobase and Geoquery

Handbook of Research on Natural Language Processing and Smart Service Systems - Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-4730-4.ch004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 70-100

Author(s):

Juan Javier González-Barbosa ◽

Juan Frausto Solís ◽

Juan Paulo Sánchez-Hernández ◽

Julia Patricia Sanchez-Solís

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Relational Database ◽

Normalization Procedure ◽

Natural Language Interfaces ◽

Language Problems

Databases and corpora are essential resources to evaluate the performance of Natural Language Interfaces to Databases (NLIDB). The Geobase database and the Geoquery corpus (Geoquery250 and Geoquery880) are among the most commonly used. In this chapter, the authors analyze both resources to offer two elaborate resources: 1) N-Geobase, which is a relational database, and 2) the corpus Geoquery270. The former follows the standard normalization procedure, then N-Geobase has a schema similar to enterprise databases. Geoquery270 consists of 270 queries selected from Geoquery880, preserving the same kind of natural language problems as Geoquery880, but with more challenging issues for an NLIDB than Geoquery250. To evaluate the new resources, they compared the performance of the NLIDB using Geoquery270 and Geoquery250. The results indicated that Geoquery270 was the harder corpus, while Geoquery250 is the easier one. Consequently, this chapter offers a broader range of resources to NLIDB designers.

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The Experiences of New Users of a Natural Language Interface to a Relational Database in a Controlled Setting

Workshops in Computing - Interfaces to Database Systems (IDS92) ◽

10.1007/978-1-4471-3423-7_24 ◽

1993 ◽

pp. 433-454 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John E. Bell

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Relational Database ◽

Natural Language Interface

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An independent-domain natural language interface for relational database: Case Arabic language

2016 IEEE/ACS 13th International Conference of Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA) ◽

10.1109/aiccsa.2016.7945786 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hanane Bais ◽

Mustapha Machkour ◽

Lahcen Koutti

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Relational Database ◽

Arabic Language ◽

Natural Language Interface ◽

Independent Domain

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The history and recent advances of Natural Language Interfaces for Databases Querying

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202122901039 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 229 ◽

pp. 01039

Author(s):

Khadija Majhadi ◽

Mustapha Machkour

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Query Language ◽

Natural Language Interfaces ◽

Recent Advances ◽

Database Structure ◽

Natural Language Interface ◽

Information Management Systems ◽

Database Query Language ◽

Indispensable Tool ◽

Expert Database

Databases have been always the most important topic in the study of information systems, and an indispensable tool in all information management systems. However, the extraction of information stored in these databases is generally carried out using queries expressed in a computer language, such as SQL (Structured Query Language). This generally has the effect of limiting the number of potential users, in particular non-expert database users who must know the database structure to write such requests. One solution to this problem is to use Natural Language Interface (NLI), to communicate with the database, which is the easiest way to get information. So, the appearance of Natural Language Interfaces for Databases (NLIDB) is becoming a real need and an ambitious goal to translate the user’s query given in Natural Language (NL) into the corresponding one in Database Query Language (DBQL). This article provides an overview of the state of the art of Natural Language Interfaces as well as their architecture. Also, it summarizes the main recent advances on the task of Natural Language Interfaces for databases.

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Design of Belarusian and Russian natural language interfaces for online help systems

Informatics ◽

10.37661/1816-0301-2021-18-4-40-52 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 40-52

Author(s):

S. A. Hetsevich ◽

Dz. A. Dzenisyk ◽

Yu. S. Hetsevich ◽

L. I. Kaigorodova ◽

K. A. Nikalaenka

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

User Interfaces ◽

Speech Synthesis ◽

Intelligent System ◽

Dialogue System ◽

Natural Language Interfaces ◽

Voice Input ◽

Natural Language Interface ◽

Question And Answer ◽

Language User

O b j e c t i v e s. The main goal of the work is a research of the natural language user interfaces and the developmentof a prototype of such an interface. The prototype is a bilingual Russian and Belarusian question-and-answer dialogue system. The research of the natural language interfaces was conducted in terms of the use of natural language for interaction between a user and a computer system. The main problems here are the ambiguity of natural language and the difficulties in the design of natural language interfaces that meet user expectations.M e t ho d s. The main principles of modelling the natural language user interfaces are considered. As an intelligent system, it consists of a database, knowledge machine and a user interface. Speech recognition and speech synthesis components make natural language interfaces more convenient from the point of view of usability.R e s u l t s. The description of the prototype of a natural language interface for a question-and-answer intelligent system is presented. The model of the prototype includes speech-to-text and text-to-speech Belarusian and Russian subsystems, generation of responses in the form of the natural language and formal text.An additional component is natural Belarusian and Russian voice input. Some of the data, required for human voice recognition, are stored as knowledge in the knowledge base or created on the basis of existing knowledge. Another important component is Belarusian and Russian voice output. This component is the top required for making the natural language interface more user-friendly.Co n c l u s i o n. The article presents the research of natural language user interfaces, the result of which provides the development and description of the prototype of the natural language interface for the intelligent question- and-answer system.

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