• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.457-483
• /
• 2007

Database Semantics (DBS) attempts to provide a comprehensive and integrated approach to human communication which seeks theory-implementation transparency. Two key components of DBS are Word bank as a data structure and left-Associative Grammar (LAG) as an algorithm. This study aims to provide a pilot implementation of Korean in DBS. First, it is shown how the three separate modules of grammar in DBS, namely, Hear, Think, and Speak, combine to form an integrated system that simulates a cognitive agent by making use of a simple Korean sentence as an example. Second, we provide a detailed analysis of the structure in Korean that is a characteristic of Korean involving numerals, classifiers, and nouns, thereby illustrating how DBS can be applied to Korean. We also discuss an issue raised in the literature concerning a problem that arises when we try to apply the LAG algorithm to the analysis of head-final language like Korean, and then discuss some possible solution to the problem.