Bilingual (Arabic/English) dialogues with a network operating system using case frames

This dissertation describes the design and implementation of a bilingual (Arabic/English) Interface to the Novell Network Operating System, called the Dialoguer. This system carries on a conversation with the user in Arabic or English or a combination of the two and attempts to help the user use the Novell NetWare NOS.;The Dialoguer makes extensive use of the case frame tables to determine the meaning of the user's request. It asks the user for any missing information it needs and then produces, once all information needed is complete, a skeleton for a command structure of an operating system command. Before the execution of any command, the Dialoguer checks that it has understood the command properly and that the command does not endanger the integrity of the system. If the command endangers the integrity of the system, the Dialoguer explains the problem, and apologizes for its inability to carry out the command. The Dialoguer system comes back to the user asking if more help is needed.;The major contributions are dialogue analysis for bilingual dialogues, the development of a robust case grammar parser for both languages, using Fillmore's theory of cases/semantic roles, and the development of a set of rules for response generation. The approach is general enough to work for other kinds of interfaces and other language combinations. The creation of case frames for Arabic is also a valuable step forward in natural language processing in Arabic. There are separate lexicons for Arabic and English. Each contains computer terminology, a set of relevant Novell terms, and general language terms.;In order to evaluate the system, a workstation was set specifically for the testing and evaluation of the system in Arabic. Furthermore, the system was also installed on twenty-five machines at Robert Morris College where twenty-three students were chosen to test and evaluate the system in English. They also gave their rating of the system on a questionnaire and made suggestions for additions and improvements.