Mixed-Level Knowledge Representations and Variable-Depth Inference in Natural Language Processing

A system is described that uses a mixed-level knowledge representation based on standard Horn Clause Logic to represent (part of) the meaning of natural language documents. A variable-depth search strategy is outlined that distinguishes between the different levels of abstraction in the knowledge representation to locate specific passages in the documents. A detailed description of the linguistic aspects of the system is given. Mixed-level representations as well as variable-depth search strategies are applicable in fields outside that of NLP.