Let’s Talk in Description Logic via Controlled Natural Language

In this paper, we will argue that a well-defined subset of English can be used to express the same kind of information as the description logic layer of the Web Ontology Language OWL DL. We will first show what kind of problems current notations for OWL have and then discuss how an OWL ontology can be constructed alternatively in a controlled natural language (CNL). In particular, we will present the details of a CNL which offers the same expressive power as OWL DL for describing the facts, axioms and restrictions which may occur in an OWL ontology. An ontology specification written in CNL can be unambiguously translated into OWL abstract syntax and vice versa with the help of a bi-directional grammar. The users of the CNL do not need to learn the rules of the language, since the writing process is supported by an intelligent authoring tool.