Natural-language user interface: Difference between revisions

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'''Natural Language User Interfaces''' (LUI) are a type of [[User interface|computer human interface]] where linguistic phenomenon such as verbs, phrases, and clauses act as UI controls for creating, selecting, and modifying data in software applications.

In [[interface design]] natural language interfaces are sought after for their speed and ease of use, but most suffer the challenges to understanding wide varieties of ambiguous input.<ref>Hill, I. (1983). "Natural language versus computer language." In M. Sime and M. Coombs (Eds.) Designing for Human-Computer Communication. Academic Press. </ref>

== Examples ==

Natural language interfaces are an active area of study in the field of [[natural language processing]] and [[Computational linguistics]].

*[[Ubiquity (Firefox)|Ubiquity]]

An intuitive general Natural language interface is one of the active goals of the [[Semantic Web]].

It is important to note that text interfaces are 'natural' to varying degrees, and that many formal (un-natural) programming languages incorporate idioms of natural human language.

==History==

Prototype Nl interfaces had already appeared in the late sixties and early seventies. <ref> Natural Language Interfaces to Databases – An Introduction,

I. Androutsopoulos,

G.D. Ritchie,

P. Thanisch,

Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh</ref>

*'''Lunar''', a natural language interface to a database containing chemical analyses of moon rocks.

*'''Chat-80''' transformed English questions into [[Prolog]] expressions,

which were evaluated against the Prolog database. The code of Chat-80 was circulated

widely, and formed the basis of several other experimental Nl interfaces.

* '''Janus''' is also one of the few systems to support temporal questions.

* '''Intellect''' from [[Trinzic]] (formed by the merger of AICorp and Aion).

* Bbn’s '''Parlance''' built on experience from the development of the '''Rus''' and '''Irus''' systems.

• [[Ibm]]’s '''Languageaccess'''

• '''Q&A''' from [[Symantec]].

• '''Datatalker''' from Natural Language Inc.

• '''Loqui''' from [[Bim]].

• '''English Wizard''' from [[Linguistic Technology Corporation]].

==Modern Applications==

===Ubiquity===

*[[{{main|Ubiquity (Firefox)|Ubiquity]]

===Wolfram Alpha===

{{main|Wolfram Alpha}}

===Siri===

{{main|Siri}}

===Others===

== See also ==

*[[Computational linguistics]]

*[[Natural Language Processing]]

*[[Semantic Web]]

[[Category:User interface]]