Answering English Questions by Computer: A Survey.

This article focuses on the experimental English language question-answering computer systems. Most languages have a small set of rules which can be used for transforming any statement into a question. In English the question mark, intonation, and the rearrangement of subject and verb accomplish this function. In addition to transformal rules, a vocabulary of special question words--who, why, where etc. exists which provides clues as to the nature of the answer that is desired. Machines and programs which attempt to answer English questions have existed for only about five years. But the desire to translate language statements into symbols which can be used in calculus has existed as long as formal logic. Attempts to build machines to test logical consistency date back at least to the thirteenth century. Several logic machines for testing the validity of propositions were constructed in the nineteenth century. However these machines, although they answer questions, do not deal directly with natural languages.