Denotational semantics for natural language question-answering programs
Michael G. Main, David B. Benson · OLAC - Open Language Archives Community · 1983
Scott-Strachey style denotational semantics is proposed as a suitable means of communicating the specification of natural language question answerers to computer programmers and software engineers. The method is exemplified by a simple question answerer communicating with a small data base. This example is partly based on treatment of fragments of English by Montague. Emphasis is placed on the semantic interpretation of questions. The meaning of a question is taken as a function from the set of universes to a set of possible answers.