The ideal of using human language to control machines requires a practical theory of natural language communication that includes grammatical analysis of language signs, plus a model of the cognitive agent, with interfaces for recognition and action, an internal database, and an algorithm for reading content in and out. This book offers a functional framework for theoretical analysis of natural language communication and for practical applications of natural language processing.

Everyday life would be easier if we could simply talk with machines instead of having to program them. Before such talking robots can be built, however, there must be a theory of how communicating with natural language works. This requires not only a grammatical analysis of the language signs, but also a model of the cognitive agent, with interfaces for recognition and action, an internal database, and an algorithm for reading content in and out. In Database Semantics, these ingredients are used for reconstructing natural language communication as a mechanism for transferring content from...