A domain independent natural language interface to databases capable of processing complex queries

Abstract

We present a method for creating natural language interfaces to databases (NLIDB) that allow for translating natural language queries into SQL. The method is domain independent, i.e., it avoids the tedious process of configuring the NLIDB for a given domain. We automatically generate the domain dictionary for query translation using semantic metadata of the database. Our semantic representation of a query is a graph including information from database metadata. The query is translated taking into account the parts of speech of its words (obtained with some linguistic processing). Specifically, unlike most existing NLIDBs, we take seriously auxiliary words (prepositions and conjunctions) as set theory operators, which allows for processing more complex queries. Experimental results (conducted on two Spanish databases from different domains) show that treatment of auxiliary words improves correctness of translation by 12.1%. With the developed NLIDB 82of queries were correctly translated (and thus answered). Reconfiguring the NLIDB from one domain to the other took only ten minutes. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.