Conceptual Graph Grammar – A Simple Formalism for Sublanguage

S. B. Johnson

doi:10.1055/s-0038-1634565

Methods of Information in Medicine, Table of Contents

Methods Inf Med 1998; 37(04/05): 345-352
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634565

Original Article

Schattauer GmbH

Conceptual Graph Grammar – A Simple Formalism for Sublanguage

Authors

S. B. Johnson

¹Department of Medical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, USA

Abstract

There are a wide variety of computer applications that deal with various aspects of medical language: concept representation, controlled vocabulary, natural language processing, and information retrieval. While technical and theoretical methods appear to differ, all approaches investigate different aspects of the same phenomenon: medical sub language. This paper surveys the properties of medical sublanguage from a formal perspective, based on detailed analyses cited in the literature. A review of several computer systems based on sublanguage approaches shows some of the difficulties in addressing the interaction between the syntactic and semantic aspects of sUblanguage. A formalism called Conceptual Graph Grammar is presented that attempts to combine both syntax and semantics into a single notation by extending standard Conceptual Graph notation. Examples from the domain of pathology diagnoses are provided to illustrate the use of this formalism in medical language analysis. The strengths and weaknesses of the approach are then considered. Conceptual Graph Grammar is an attempt to synthesize the common properties of different approaches to sublanguage into a single formalism, and to begin to define a common foundation for language-related research in medical informatics.

Keywords

Medical Linguistics - Concept Representation - Controlled Vocabulary - Natural Language Processing

Full Text

References

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