Interpreting natural language queries using the UMLS

This paper describes AQUA (A QUery Analyzer), the natural language front end of a prototype information retrieval system. AQUA translates a user's natural language query into a representation in the Conceptual Graph formalism. The graph is then used by subsequent components to search various resources such as databases of the medical literature. The focus of the parsing method is on semantics rather than syntax, with semantic restrictions being provided by the UMLS Semantic Net. The intent of the approach is to provide a method that can be emulated easily in applications that require simple natural language interfaces.