Temporal Meaning Representations in a Natural Language Front-End

TL;DR

This paper introduces BOT, a simplified logic-like language derived from TOP, enabling broader application of natural language temporal queries beyond TSQL2 databases by leveraging existing FOPL manipulation methods.

Contribution

It presents a translation from TOP to BOT, a logic closer to FOPL, facilitating integration with various time-sensitive applications.

Findings

BOT enables easier manipulation of temporal expressions.

The approach maintains the existing English-to-TOP mapping.

Potential for broader application in time-sensitive systems.

Abstract

Previous work in the context of natural language querying of temporal databases has established a method to map automatically from a large subset of English time-related questions to suitable expressions of a temporal logic-like language, called TOP. An algorithm to translate from TOP to the TSQL2 temporal database language has also been defined. This paper shows how TOP expressions could be translated into a simpler logic-like language, called BOT. BOT is very close to traditional first-order predicate logic (FOPL), and hence existing methods to manipulate FOPL expressions can be exploited to interface to time-sensitive applications other than TSQL2 databases, maintaining the existing English-to-TOP mapping.