natural language query

A query expressed by typing English, French or any other spoken language in a normal manner. For example, "how many sales reps sold more than a million dollars in any eastern state in January?" In order to allow that query to be spoken aloud, both a voice recognition system and natural language query software are required.

Not Quite the Same as a Search Engine Query
A natural language query is based on the known identification of each data element that has been previously defined in a database, which means that the result should be extremely accurate. In addition, such queries are made against proprietary data within an organization. In contrast, while a search engine query supports natural language and may provide similar results, they are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. However, after years of scouring the trillions of pages on the Web, search engine algorithms have derived the world's largest knowledge base of public data. See search engine.

A Natural Language Example

EasyAsk's English Wizard generated the SQL code in the window at the bottom from the English sentence at the top. It is amazing how much SQL is necessary to ask what looks like a simple question. (Screenshot courtesy of EasyAsk Inc.)

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References in periodicals archive

Query rewriting operates by carrying out the following steps as 1) Read in a natural language query and split it into words/tokens.

Enhanced cloud service discovery for naive users with ontology based representation

[2] Gauri Rao and Dr.S.H.Patel Natural Language Query Processing in International Journal on Computer Applications in Engineering and Technology and Sciences, 2009.

Human Language Query Processing in temporal database using probabilistic context free grammar

The incoming query is split to form a tree, which contain patterns found in the natural language query. Since our main aim is to find the conditions and columns for generating SQL, we are having only two category items.

A multilingual query processing system using software agents

In addition to the traditional features of web sites (such as Graphical User Interfaces and Hypertext drill down), there are a number of unique intelligent features that are now just starting to be used on web sites: an Animated Conversational Agent, Point & Query, and Natural Language Query.

Modules and information retrieval facilities of the Human Use Regulatory Affairs Advisor (HURAA)

These applications could take the form of FAQs, search engines, knowledge bases with natural language query front ends, structured dialogue systems or virtual agents.

Meridien Research examines web self-service in financial institutions

* Information Retrieval: including natural language processing (NLP) for concept-based indexing, natural language query interface, semantic-based relevance judgment, etc.

New Transactions: Call for Papers

Encarta 99 also features a new Natural Language Query function, which lets you ask questions such as "Who was the first man in space?" This also enables much quicker research.

Encarta 99 offers revolutionary interface

* Searchable knowledgebases: Lang says Adobe maintains a technical solutions database of almost 5,000 documents that users can search by keyword or by natural language query, "which works very well for non-techie customers." Lang notes that Adobe tries to keep its knowledgebase as current as possible: "We add and delete new information every night."

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