Accessing structured data in the form of ontologies requires training and learning formal query languages (e.g., SeRQL or SPARQL) which poses significant difficulties for non-expert users. One of the ways to lower the learning overhead and make ontology queries more straightforward is through a Natural Language Interface (NLI). While there are existing NLIs to structured data with reasonable performance, they tend to require expensive customisation to each new domain or ontology. Additionally, they often require specific adherence to a pre-defined syntax which, in turn, means that users still have to undergo training. In this paper we present Question-based Interface to Ontologies (QuestIO) - a tool for querying ontologies using unconstrained language-based queries. QuestIO has a very simple interface, requires no user training and can be easily embedded in any system or used with any ontology or knowledge base without prior customisation.

Sumerian is a long-extinct language documented throughout the ancient MiddleEast, arguably the first language for which we have written evidence, and is a language isolate (i.e. no related languages have so far been identified). The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), based at theUniversity of Oxford, aims to make accessible on the web over 350 literary workscomposed during the late third and early second millennia BCE. The transliterations and translations can be searched, browsed and read online using the tools of the website. In this paper we describe the creation of linguistic analysis and corpus search tools for Sumerian, as part of the development of the ETCSL. This is designed to enable Sumerian scholars, students and interested laymen to analyse the texts online and electronically, and to further knowledge about the language.

In recent years, following the rapid development in the Semantic Web and Knowledge Management research, ontologies have become more in demand in Natural Language Processing. An increasing number of systems use ontologies either internally, for modelling the domain of the application, or as data structures that hold the output resulting from the work of the system, in the form of knowledge bases. While there are many ontology editing tools aimed at expert users, there are very few which are accessible to users wishing to create simple structures without delving into the intricacies of knowledge representation languages. The approach described in this paper allows users to create and edit ontologies simply by using a restricted version of the English language. The controlled language described within is based on an open vocabulary and a restricted set of grammatical constructs. Sentences written in this language unambiguously map into a number of knowledge representation formats including OWL and RDF-S to allow round-trip ontology management.