A logical formalization of semistructured data models

Semistructured data has attracted much attention in database research lately. New data models, query languages and systems have been developed. However, very little research has been done on formally defined semantics for the new data models and query languages. As a consequence, some aspects of the meaning of expressions in the database and answers to queries are not completely understood. In this paper we propose a semantics for semistructured data based on a modal logic framework used to give semantics to feature structures. A semistructured database is seen as inducing a certain model, which is then used to evaluate queries posed to the database in a first-order language. The main advantage of this approach is to give a formal basis for analyzing some possibly conflicting views of semistructured data as a model for partial information.