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<div>Connor asked about relational databases and got several answers,
not all of which were entirely accurate. But since I actually
published a dictionary directly from a relational database (<i>Eastern
Ojibwe, Chippewa, Ottawa Dictionary</i>. Mouton de Gruyter 1985) -- in
fact each of the halves of the dictionary were reports (in the
technical sense) that were fed directly to a typesetter, I'd like to
try to answer the question. (A fuller discussion can be found in my
artcle in<i> Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of
the Americas</i> [Frawley, Hill, and Munro, eds.])</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>A relational database consists of a set of tables. Each table
represents a particular relation in which each entry in the table is
unique. The tables are linked to one another, logically, so that the
information from various tables can be combined in unambiguous
ways.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>(By now the hardcore computer types are probably tearing their
hair out, but I'm trying to say this in as non-technical a way as
possible, pace the late Edgar Codd.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>So for bilingual dictionary makers, a sensible set of tables
might look like this (pardon me if I have some of the German details
wrong, my German is very rusty and I don't have a dictionary at
hand):</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>TABLE 1 (Core relation)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>key : L1 phrase : L2 phrase<x-tab>
</x-tab>1753 : get something started : etwas in Schwung bringen</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab> </x-tab>2435
: start to do something : beginnen, etwas zu machen</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab
> </x-tab>3467 :
start <span
></span> : beginnen</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>0746
:
swing <span
></span> : Schwung</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>TABLE 2 (L1 index)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>key : L1 key word : ps<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>1735 : start : vt</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>3467 : start : vt</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>3467 : start : vi</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>2435 : start : vi</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>0089 : start : n</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab
> </x-tab>4301 : swing : vt</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab
> </x-tab>3988 : swing : vi</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab
> </x-tab>0746 : swing : n</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>TABLE 3 (L2 index)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>key : L2 key word : ps<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>1735 : Schwung : n m</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>4589 : beginnen : vt</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>3467 : beginnen : vt</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>2435 : beginnen : vi</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab
> <x-tab
> </x-tab>0746 : Schwung : n
m</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>TABLE 4 (L1 grammar)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>L1 word : ps : grammatical info</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>start : vt : started , started</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>start : vi : started , started</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab> <x-tab>
</x-tab>swing : n : swings</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>TABLE 5 (L2 grammar)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>L2 word : ps : grammatical info</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>Schwung : n m : no plural</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>beginnen : vt : begann, begonnen</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>beginnen : vi : begann, begonnen</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As you notice this is very redundant. The uniqueness that Mike
Maxwell was referring to is the mathematical consistency that gives
unique answers. But these tables are connectable in unique ways to one
another via they keys. As John Koontz mentioned, each line of each
table has to have a unique key. But the key could be either a single
arbitrarily assigned value, like those in tables 1, 2, and 3. Or they
can be unique pairings like the word plus it's part of speech in
tables 4 and 5. In my dictionary work I had no arbitrary keys,
everything was done by connecting pairings (or tuples in many cases).
Then the queries are made by joining the tables together and querying
the resultant table for a particular configuration of information. In
this case you join these tables together to generate lines that look
like the following:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>get something started : etwas in Schwung bringen : start : vt :
started, started</div>
<div>start to do something : beginnen, etwas zu machen : start : vi :
started, started</div>
<div>start : beginnen : start : vt : started, started</div>
<div>start : beginnen : start : vi : started, started.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Which when appropriately queried will generate an entry like the
following:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><b>start</b><i> vi</i> beginnen,<b> start to do something</b>,
beginnen, etwas zu machen;<i> vt</i> beginnen;<b> get something
started</b>, etwas in Schwung bringen;<i> past </i><b>
started</b>,<i> part</i><b> started</b>.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>A parallel set of joins and queries will produce the other half
of the dictionary.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>It can be very hard to set things up properly. There's a lot to
figuring out what the relations (in a technical sense) are. There's a
whole process called normalization to do that. But it's worth doing.
When your data is normalized and entered you can't get away with
anything. The whole system forces you to a consistency never before
possible in lexicography.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>BTW, for people in a Mac environment, I recommend Acius'
4-Dimension. It has a decent interface, and it can be fast even for
largish databases, especially if you compile the programs you write to
do your dirty work.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Rich Rhodes</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dia dhaoibh, a chairde!<br>
<br>
For those of us with no experience in the matter: what is it that
makes<br>
relational databases so useful to lexicographic and/or other
linguistic<br>
work? I'm still not clear on what it is that makes a relational
database<br>
distinct from any other kind, so a nice concrete example of<br>
<br>
(a) what makes the distinction and<br>
(b) how we (in my case *beginning*) lexicographers can use it to
our<br>
benefit<br>
<br>
would be much appreciated.<br>
<br>
Sla/n,<br>
bhur gcara<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Yahoo! Groups Links<br>
<br>
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<br>
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:<br>
lexicographylist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div
>******************************************************************<br
>
<br>
Richard A. Rhodes<br>
Associate Dean, Undergraduate Division<br>
Interim Director, Office of Undergraduate Advising<br>
College of Letters & Science<br>
113 Campbell Hall<br>
University of California<br>
Berkeley, CA 94720-2924<br>
Phone: (510) 643-4184<br>
FAX: (510) 642-2372<br>
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