Controlled natural languages [ 1 ] [ 2 ] (LNC) are subsets of natural languages that are obtained by restricting grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two main types: those that improve readability for human readers (for example, non-native speakers), and those that allow reliable automatic semantic analysis of the language.
The first type of languages (often called “technical” or “simplified” languages), for example Simplified Technical English, Caterpillar Technical English, IBM Easy English, are used in the industry to increase the quality of technical documentation and, possibly simplifying the (semi-) automatic translation of the documentation. These languages restrict the writer by general rules, such as “Keep sentences short”, “Avoid using pronouns”, “Only use words from the approved dictionary”, and “Use only the active voice”. [ 3 ]
The second type of languages have a formal logical basis, that is, they have a formal and semantic syntax, and can be mapped to an existing formal language , such as first order logic . Thus, these languages can be used as knowledge representation languages , and the writing of these languages is supported by fully automatic consistency and redundancy tests, electronic consultation, etc.
Languages [ edit | edit source code ]
Existing controlled natural languages based on logic include: [ 4 ]
- Controlled Portuguese [1 ]
- Attempto Controlled English
- Common Logic Controlled English (CLCE)
- Pseudo Natural Language (NLP)
- Rabbit
- PENG (Processable ENGlish)
- Restricted Natural Language Statements (RNLS) [5 ]
- Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules
- ClearTalk
- Controlled Language for Ontology Editing (CLOnE) [6 ]
- Inform 7 , a declarative English-based programming language
Other existing natural controlled languages include:
- Simplified Technical English ASD
- Basic English
- E-Prime
- Gellish with its natural variant languages, such as English Formal Gellish, Dutch Formal Gellish ( Gellish Formeel Nederlands ), etc.
- Controlled Language Optimized for Uniform Translation (CLOUT)
- Special English
- Simplified Technical Russian
- EasyEnglish
