Flexible comparison of conceptual graphs

Conceptual graphs allow for powerful and computationally affordable representation of the semantic contents of natural language texts. We propose a method: of comparison (approximate matching) of conceptual graphs. The method takes into account synonymy and subtype/supertype relationships between the concepts and relations used in the conceptual graphs, thus allowing for greater flexibility of approximate matching. The method also allows the user to choose the desirable aspect of similarity in the cases when the two graphs can be generalized in different ways. The algorithm and examples of its application are presented. The results are potentially useful in a range of tasks requiring approximate semantic or another structural matching - among them, information retrieval and text mining.