Natural language processing with non-ontological hierarchy models

1. A computerized system for conducting human-machine conversations, comprising:

a computer comprising a processor connected to memory storing computer-implemented language processing software comprising a network of associations comprising target words arranged according to functions-like relationship definitions in respective domains of words;

at least one data structure storing the network of associations in the memory;

a user interface connected to the computer and configured to receive natural language inputs and to provide responses from the computer using the language processing software, wherein the language processing software implements a method comprising the steps of:

identifying at least one base term and phrasal structures in a respective natural language input;

identifying respective functional items in the phrasal structures used with the at least one base term in the natural language input and comparing the respective functional items with the functions-like relationship definitions in the network of associations to identify similarities between the at least one base term and the target words in the network of associations and to identify the respective domain of words that includes the target words;

computing a response with words from the respective domain of words.

2. The computerized system of claim 1 , wherein the target words from the respective domain of words share a prototyped relationship structure with the base words from the natural language input, wherein the prototyped relationship structure shows similarities in which the at least one base term and the target words are both associated with respective functions-like phrases that are present in the phrasal structures of the natural language input and also present in the functions-like relationship definitions of the network of associations.

3. The computerized system of claim 2 , further comprising a step of calculating a similarity vector between base words in the natural language input and target words in the respective domain of words.

4. The computerized system of claim 3 , wherein the functional items within the phrasal structures of the natural language input identify the base term relative to at least one of an action term from the natural language input, an object of the action term, a subject term from the natural language input, and the subject term performing the action term.

5. The computerized system of claim 3 , further comprising narrowing down at least one domain of words from the network of associations by identifying common terms in the respective natural language input and at least one functions-like relationship definition in the network of associations.

6. The computerized system of claim 1 further comprising parsing the natural language inputs and extracting respective base words and functional items from the phrasal structures.

7. The computerized system of claim 6 , wherein the parsing further comprises utilizing a computerized dependency parser to identify relationships among a plurality of input words in the natural language input and to store the relationships in the memory.

8. The computerized system of claim 7 , further comprising using the computer to determine whether the relationships among the input words fit into at least one phrasal data structure stored in the language processing software.

9. The computerized system of claim 8 , further comprising calculating a similarity vector that exhibits a degree of similarity between base words in the natural language input and target words in the respective domain of words.

10. The computerized system of claim 6 , wherein the parsing further comprises utilizing directional searches to identify relationships among a plurality of input words in the natural language input and to store the relationships in the memory.

11. The computerized system of claim 10 , further comprising using the computer to determine whether the relationships among the input words fit into at least one phrasal data structure stored in the language processing software.

12. The computerized system of claim 11 , further comprising calculating a similarity vector that exhibits a degree of similarity between base words in the natural language input and target words in the respective domain of words.

13. A computer implemented method of formulating a computerized response to a natural language input to a computer, the method comprising:

storing a network of associations between target words arranged according to functions-like relationship definitions in a respective domain of words;

identifying at least one base term and phrasal structures in a respective natural language input;

identifying respective functional items in the phrasal structures used with the at least one base term in the natural language input;

identifying similarities between the at least one base term and the target words in the network of associations by comparing the respective functional items from the natural language input with the functions-like relationship definitions in the network of associations;

identifying the respective domain of words that includes the target words; and

computing a response with words from the respective domain of words.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13 further comprising identifying similarities in which the at least one base term and the target words are both associated with respective functions-like phrases that are present in the phrasal structures of the natural language input and also present in the functions-like relationship definitions of the network of associations.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the target words are placed in functional groups in the network of associations, wherein the target words in a respective functional group share common functions like relationship definitions.