QUIXOTE as a tool for natural language processing

The authors developed a language QUIXOTE as a tool to deal with various information in natural language processing. QUIXOTE is a hybrid language of a deductive object-oriented database and constraint logic programming language. The new mechanism of QUIXOTE is a combination of an object-orientation concept such as object identity and the concept of a module that classifies a large knowledge base. In addition, its logical inference system is extended to be able to make restricted abduction. The authors first apply QUIXOTE to the sorted feature structure of constraint-based grammar formalisms. Next, it is shown that QUIXOTE can contribute to the description of situation-based semantics. The authors have implemented a system to make abductive reasoning to clarify hidden information. Also, they resolve the problem of noun phrase reference