[Lexicog] Collaborative lexicography software?

[Mike Maxwell]

Allan Johnson wrote:
> For a dictionary user to be able to look up any wordform in a 
> computer-based (maybe online) dictionary, another approach would be to 
> explicitly list all forms in the dictionary...
> 
> Automated parsing could still have a role in such a dictionary, but the 
> role would be to assist in building the dictionary rather than to assist 
> in reading it. When analyzing words that it encounters in vernacular 
> texts, the parser would draw its conclusion regarding what roots and 
> affixes make up the word, and thus what entries it should be linked to. 
> Based on his knowledge of the actual meanings of the words, the human 
> dictionary compiler would then evaluate whether to accept the parser's 
> choice or make links that the parser didn't predict. If it involves some 
> regularity of the language that the parser just doesn't yet handle, the 
> dictionary compiler could use this parser failure as feedback to help 
> improve the parser's success in future predictions...

This is a description of part of the "stealth to wealth" idea being 
implemented for parsing in FLEx.  The idea is in part that the program 
learns new affixes and stems automatically from the user's hand parses, 
as described above.  But also, at some point the user is likely to get 
frustrated at having to sort through computer-produced parses that are 
obviously wrong (like 'cats' as a noun with a 3rd person singular 
present tense suffix).  This (hopefully) motivates the user to tell the 
stupid computer why this parse doesn't make sense, in the process 
improving the parser and the grammatical description used by the parser.

It would also be possible for the computer to guess new roots/ stems (or 
allomorphs thereof), on the basis of what's left over after it removes 
what it believes to be affixes from a previously unseen word.  Of 
course, these will sometimes be wrong (like calling 'r' a root in the 
word 'ring', after removing a supposed -ing suffix), and the computer 
won't have a clue about the meaning of these stems.  But it might still 
be useful.
-- 
	Mike Maxwell
	maxwell at ldc.upenn.edu

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