Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are subsets of natural languages, obtained by restricting the grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two major types: those that improve readability for human readers (e.g. non-native speakers), and those that enable reliable automatic semantic analysis of the language.
The first type of languages (often called "simplified" or "technical" languages), for example ASD Simplified Technical English, Caterpillar Technical English, IBM's Easy English, are used in the industry to increase the quality of technical documentation, and possibly simplify the (semi-)automatic translation of the documentation. These languages restrict the writer by general rules such as "write short and grammatically simple sentences", "use nouns instead of pronouns", "use determiners", and "use active instead of passive".[1]
The second type of languages have a formal logical basis, i.e. they have a formal syntax and semantics, and can be mapped to an existing formal language, such as first-order logic. Thus, those languages can be used as knowledge-representation languages, and writing of those languages is supported by fully automatic consistency and redundancy checks, query answering, etc.
Contents |
Existing logic-based controlled natural languages include[2]:
Other existing controlled natural languages include:
Redirecting to Controlled natural language
 |
The English used in this article or section may not be easy for everybody to understand. You can help Wikipedia by making this page or section simpler. |
Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are artificial languages built by simplifying the grammar and reducing the number of words in the language to avoid ambiguity or complexity.
There are two types of controlled languages: some designed to help non-native speakers of a language, and some designed to enable automatic semantic analysis.
The first type of languages (often called "simplified" or "technical" languages) are used by businesses or industries to improve the quality of technical writing, and possibly simplify the (semi-)automatic translation to other languages. For example, the ASD Simplified Technical English, Caterpillar Technical English, and IBM's Easy English.
These languages guide the writer by general rules such as "write short and simple sentences", "use the person's name ("John Smith" for example) instead of saying "him", and "talk about who is doing something, rather than what is being done, unless you need to say what is being done".[1]
The second type of languages have a well defined rules of construction and interpretation, and can be matched to formal languages, such as first-order logic. Those languages can be used to handle information, to support fully automatic checks to test that they are correct and to search for information easily.
Contents |
Existing logic-based controlled natural languages include:
Other existing controlled natural languages:
|
|
Wikis
Search
