Using semantic templates for a natural language interface to the CINDI virtual library

In this paper, we present our work in building a template-based system for translating English sentences into SQL queries for a relational database system. The input sentences are syntactically parsed using the Link Parser, and semantically parsed through the use of domain-specific templates. The system is composed of a pre-processor and a run-time module. The pre-processor builds a conceptual knowledge base from the database schema using WordNet. This knowledge base is then used at run time to semantically parse the input and create the corresponding SQL query. The system is meant to be domain independent and has been tested with the CINDI database that contains information on a virtual library.