de.bensoft.acis.core.language

Interface Language

All Known Implementing Classes:

BensoftEnglishWordNet, BensoftGermanWiktionary, Unified

public interface Language

The Language interface is the language-dependent part of an ACIS system. A Language represents a unified interface the ACIS system can get information from. Such information is e.g. a Word or a SentenceObjectSet.
A Language interface must not be abstract!
See the example on http://bensoft.de/projects/acis on how to create your own Language interface.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
java.util.Locale	getLanguage() Returns a Locale representing the language the interface is applicable for.
java.lang.String	getName() Returns the name of the Language interface.
Sentence	getSentence(java.lang.String sentence) Looks up information about a specific sentence (a row of words) and returns a Sentence Object.
SentenceObjectSet	getSentenceObjects(Sentence sentence) Returns a SentenceObjectSet containing the SentenceObjects.
Word	getWord(java.lang.String word) Looks up information about a specific word and returns a Word Object.
void	setWordCache(WordCache wordCache) Sets a WordCache Object for caching word information of this language.

Method Detail

getName

java.lang.String getName()

Returns the name of the Language interface.

Returns:

The name in a format similar to this: "com.example.acis.languages-english". It must not contain characters found in paths like "/\?:" etc.

getLanguage

java.util.Locale getLanguage()

Returns a Locale representing the language the interface is applicable for.

Returns:

The language Locale.

getWord

Word getWord(java.lang.String word)

Looks up information about a specific word and returns a Word Object.
This function should first check whether the word is in the WordCache (if present) and eventually load information form there.
This function must provide:

• The form the word was typed in
• The normal/base form
• The word type. Own word types are allowed as they are language-dependent.
• Synonyms of the word.
• The normal form (infinitive)

See Word for further information.

In case no information could be fetched about a word: The word type should be Word.WordType.NotFound, the NormalForm is the TypedForm and the synonyms are an empty array (not null).

Parameters:

word - The input String word. May not contain whitespaces.

Returns:

A Word Object containing the information about this specific word. Must not return null.

getSentence

Sentence getSentence(java.lang.String sentence)

Looks up information about a specific sentence (a row of words) and returns a Sentence Object.
This function must provide:

• The type of the sentence. See Sentence.SentenceType.
• An array of Word Objects representing all Words of the input.

See Sentence for further information.

Parameters:

sentence - The input word sequence.

Returns:

The Sentence Object. Must not return null.

getSentenceObjects

SentenceObjectSet getSentenceObjects(Sentence sentence)

Returns a SentenceObjectSet containing the SentenceObjects.

This function must categorize ALL words into the categories ACTION, WHAT, WHO, HOW and ELSE (as represented by a SentenceObject).

These categories are described as follows:

• Action: The word(s) or group(s) of word(s) that describe the underlying action of an event. Usually verbs.
• What: The word(s) or group(s) of word(s) that represent a passive Object an action is performed on.
• Who: The word(s) or group(s) of word(s) that represent the action-taking subject.
• How: The word(s) or group(s) of word(s) that describe a way or state an action is performed in.
• Else: The word(s) or group(s) of word(s) that could not be put in the categories above or are uncategorizable.

Note: Of course it is not very easy to programmatically categorize the parts of a sentence in natural language. Small deviations in interpretation are negligible.
See SentenceObjectSet for further information.

Parameters:

sentence - The input Sentence Object.

Returns:

A SentenceObjectSet containing the ACTIONS, WHATS, WHOS, HOWS and ELSES as arrays of SentenceObjects.

setWordCache

void setWordCache(WordCache wordCache)

Sets a WordCache Object for caching word information of this language.
A WordCache does not need to be set but is recommended because of performance (e.g. loading from the Internet).
Usually a WordCache is retrieved through ACIS.getWordCache().

Parameters:

wordCache - The WordCache to use.