https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/Head https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://www.nanopub.org/nschema#hasAssertion https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/assertion https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://www.nanopub.org/nschema#hasProvenance https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/provenance https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://www.nanopub.org/nschema#hasPublicationInfo https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/pubinfo https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type http://www.nanopub.org/nschema#Nanopublication https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/assertion http://id.crossref.org/issn/0891-2017 http://purl.org/dc/terms/title Computational Linguistics https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 http://purl.org/dc/terms/abstract What is here called controlled natural language (CNL) has traditionally been given many different names. Especially during the last four decades, a wide variety of such languages have been designed. They are applied to improve communication among humans, to improve translation, or to provide natural and intuitive representations for formal notations. Despite the apparent differences, it seems sensible to put all these languages under the same umbrella. To bring order to the variety of languages, a general classification scheme is presented here. A comprehensive survey of existing English-based CNLs is given, listing and describing 100 languages from 1930 until today. Classification of these languages reveals that they form a single scattered cloud filling the conceptual space between natural languages such as English on the one end and formal languages such as propositional logic on the other. The goal of this article is to provide a common terminology and a common model for CNL, to contribute to the understanding of their general nature, to provide a starting point for researchers interested in the area, and to help developers to make design decisions. https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 http://purl.org/dc/terms/date 2014-03 https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf http://id.crossref.org/issn/0891-2017 https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 http://purl.org/dc/terms/title A Survey and Classification of Controlled Natural Languages https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/authorList https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/author-list https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type http://purl.org/spar/fabio/Article https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-0234 http://schema.org/affiliation https://ror.org/02crff812 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-0234 http://schema.org/affiliation https://ror.org/05a28rw58 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-0234 http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name Tobias Kuhn https://ror.org/02crff812 http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name University of Zurich, Switzerland https://ror.org/05a28rw58 http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name ETH Zurich, Switzerland https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/author-list http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#_1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-0234 https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/provenance https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/assertion http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#wasAttributedTo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-0234 https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/assertion http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#wasDerivedFrom https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/pubinfo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1267-0234 http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name Tobias Kuhn https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://purl.org/dc/terms/created 2026-02-22T10:51:40.000+01:00 https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator https://w3id.org/np/RAkkUz7qBJ-BIOCHV_4WCTgHCdTyI25_bnRuw166SXjwM/DOI-bot https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://purl.org/dc/terms/license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://purl.org/nanopub/x/hasNanopubType http://purl.org/spar/fabio/ScholarlyWork https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://purl.org/nanopub/x/introduces https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00168 https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://purl.org/nanopub/x/supersedes https://w3id.org/np/RA-NixI7h9Go2z1rCE7sBoXiv0CRbRArbN8f3Mv__JbnA https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label A Survey and Classification of Controlled Natural Languages https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/sig http://purl.org/nanopub/x/hasAlgorithm RSA https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/sig http://purl.org/nanopub/x/hasPublicKey MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEArRL5MjH1KfuE89dpKsIiscF/THrJ4uSvhl0NgaC8x3TdTDrL00kCnlH+2g7PMYhaUQIGWq27TTXHAGp7ehO8yLjRNeDCc8zjUCQJqLbzay3DB51PCiz50OsMgxiZC1+e0bVdk/CAQV4oVo+VgI+awHI1bTT4Yp7pR2I67imf1PIcwczGVhn8EQwtNdWQOZ63wDgUCY+6IubHBQzjLfbYh0828UETEyIV28T7fvf5+y4A5M590InmgkLGpJbRXoL0pnCm1BtFOoxeAVqfivbxIZWPYN2Yd0cSfqwIIUYyaLFpjDrBwc4iJdOus4UQ9OYqkeZDMpU3opU8jWKDIm77jwIDAQAB https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/sig http://purl.org/nanopub/x/hasSignature j2TDl/ttnbQGCksv83oFzePSUY9CYx+UJqxSkvTJnBMVMlwdBEVmKOmdqG1QB40UKNujTDOpEQiAK5iNovZYkheeJMN2NWwrMwz7ZhB0YGFmYcMQ/AwPtSNEGQ1oNTxHG7IFFpjx30rcjJcpHwsnAh9OK+1p4wvtmQpnuTTMFkMYR03ReH4q2Fy4ArdtZr7bbwSCLvp/FZ7NOuSudlpcKbfD0loChHuX7IHiOCt8zdDpOMKKn1PlcGqeVcAWpfABCvvrIxScwKzFTNJ2mkbUK8HAp9g2LJMUN/EUUpTFCjcGDWiLVls0ihf9qcZOYQzGONkk5cOeZV1syQQmP58Iiw== https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/sig http://purl.org/nanopub/x/hasSignatureTarget https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0 https://w3id.org/np/RAMF8AQkPqN9UVQoy5XYVq2NEcsZv5mY7VOuYqI64cWn0/sig http://purl.org/nanopub/x/signedBy https://w3id.org/np/RAkkUz7qBJ-BIOCHV_4WCTgHCdTyI25_bnRuw166SXjwM/DOI-bot