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wngloss - glossary of terms used in WordNet system
The WordNet Reference Manual consists of Unix-style manual
pages divided into sections as follows:
- ___________________________________________________
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- | Section|
- Description
|________|_________________________________________
- |
- 1 | WordNet User Commands
- |
- 3 | WordNet Library Functions
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- 5 | WordNet File Formats
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- 7 | Miscellaneous Information about WordNet
|________|_________________________________________
System Description
The WordNet system consists of lexicographer files, code to
convert these files into a database, and search routines and
interfaces that display information from the database. The
lexicographer files organize nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs into groups of synonyms, and describe relations
between synonym groups. grind(1WN)
converts the lexicographer
files into a database that encodes the relations
between the synonym groups. The different interfaces to the
WordNet database utilize a common library of search routines
to display these relations. Note that the lexicographer
files and grind(1WN)
program are not distributed.
The semantic concordances consist of groups of Brown Corpus
files that have been semantically tagged by hand.
escort(1WN)
, an interface for searching the semantic concordances,
uses the sense index and taglist files to find sentences
with semantic tags to specific WordNet senses. The
tools and programs used to create the semantic concordances
are not distributed. escort(1WN)
is included in the semantic
concordance package.
See wnpkgs(7WN)
for a description of the various WordNet
packages available.
Database Organization
Information in WordNet is organized around logical groupings
called synsets. Each synset consists of a list of
synonymous words or collocations (eg. «fountain pen", «take
in"), and pointers that describe the relations between this
synset and other synsets. A word or collocation may appear
in more than one synset, and in more than one part of
speech. The words in a synset are logically grouped such
that they are interchangeable in some context.
Two kinds of relations are represented by pointers: lexical
and semantic. Lexical relations hold between word forms;
semantic relations hold between word meanings. These relations
include (but are not limited to) hypernymy/hyponymy,
antonymy, entailment, and meronymy/holonymy.
Nouns and verbs are organized into hierarchies based on the
hypernymy/hyponymy relation between synsets. Additional
pointers are be used to indicate other relations.
Adjectives are arranged in clusters containing head synsets
and satellite synsets. Each cluster is organized around
antonymous pairs (and occasionally antonymous triplets).
The antonymous pairs (or triplets) are indicated in the head
synsets of a cluster. Most head synsets have one or more
satellite synsets, each of which represents a concept that
is similar in meaning to the concept represented by the head
synset. One way to think of the adjective cluster organization
is to visualize a wheel, with a head synset as the hub
and satellite synsets as the spokes. Two or more wheels are
logically connected via antonymy, which can be thought of as
an axle between the wheels.
Pertainyms are relational adjectives and do not follow the
structure just described. Pertainyms do not have antonyms;
the synset for a pertainym most often contains only one word
or collocation and a lexical pointer to the noun that the
adjective is «of or pertaining to". Participial adjectives
have lexical pointers to the verbs that they are derived
from.
Adverbs are often derived from adjectives, and sometimes
have antonyms; therefore the synset for an adverb usually
contains a lexical pointer to the adjective from which it is
derived.
See wndb(5WN)
for a detailed description of the database
files and how the data are represented.
Many terms used in the WordNet Reference Manual are unique
to the WordNet system. Other general terms have specific
meanings when used in the WordNet documentation. Definitions
for many of these terms are given to help with the
interpretation and understanding of the reference manual,
and in the use of the WordNet system.
In following definitions word is used in place of word or
collocation.
- adjective cluster
- A group of adjective synsets that
are organized around antonymous
pairs or triplets. An adjective
cluster contains two or more head
synsets which represent antonymous
concepts. Each head synset has one
or more satellite synsets.
- attribute
- A noun for which adjectives express
values. The noun weight is an
attribute, for which the adjectives
light and heavy express values.
- base form
- The base form of a word or collocation
is the form to which inflections
are added.
- basic synset
- Syntactically, same as synset.
Term is used in wninput(5WN)
to
help explain differences in entering
synsets in lexicographer files.
- co-occurrence key
- A semantic tag which is optionally
present in a sentence along with a
primary key in order for
escort(5WN)
to retrieve the sentence.
- collocation
- A collocation in WordNet is a
string of two or more words, connected
by spaces or hyphens. Examples
are: man-eating shark, bluecollar,
depend on,
line of products. In the database
files spaces are represented as
underscore (_) characters.
- coordinate
- Coordinate terms are words that
have the same hypernym.
- cross-cluster pointer
- A semantic pointer from one adjective
cluster to another.
- cousin
- Senses whose hyponyms bear a
specific relation to each other.
- direct antonyms
- A pair of words between which there
is an associative bond built up by
co-occurrences. In adjective clusters,
direct antonyms appears only
in head synsets.
- entailment
- A verb X entails Y if X cannot be
done unless Y is, or has been,
done.
- exception list
- Morphological transformations for
words that are not regular and
therefore cannot be processed in an
algorithmic manner.
- group
- Senses deemed similar by the
cousin, sister or twin relations.
- gloss
- Definition and/or example sentences
for a synset.
- head synset
- Synset in an adjective cluster containing
at least one word that has
a direct antonym.
- holonym
- The name of the whole of which the
meronym names a part. Y is a holonym
of X if X is a part of Y.
- hypernym
- The generic term used to designate
a whole class of specific
instances. Y is a hypernym of X if
X is a (kind of) Y.
- hyponym
- The specific term used to designate
a member of a class. X is a hyponym
of Y if X is a (kind of) Y.
- indirect antonym
- An adjective in a satellite synset
that does not have a direct antonym
has an indirect antonyms via the
direct antonym of the head synset.
- lemma
- lower case ASCII text of word as
found in the WordNet database index
files.
- lexical pointer
- A lexical pointer indicates a relation
between words in synsets (word
forms).
- monosemous
- Having only one sense in a syntactic
category.
- meronym
- The name of a constituent part of,
the substance of, or a member of
something. X is a meronym of Y if
X is a part of Y.
- part of speech
- WordNet defines «part of speech» as
either noun, verb, adjective, or
adverb. Same as syntactic
category.
- participial adjective
- An adjective that is derived from a
verb.
- pertainym
- A relational adjective. Adjectives
that are pertainyms are usually
defined by such phrases as «of or
pertaining to» and do not have
antonyms. A pertainym can point to
a noun or another pertainym.
- polysemous
- Having more than one sense in a
syntactic category.
- polysemy count
- Number of senses of a word in a
syntactic category, in WordNet.
- postnominal
- A postnominal adjective occurs only
immediately following the noun that
it modifies.
- predicative
- An adjective that can be used only
in predicate positions. If X is a
predicate adjective, it can be used
in such phrases as «it is X".
- prenominal
- An adjective that can occur only
before the noun that it modifies.
- primary key
- A semantic tag which must be
present in a sentence in order for
escort(5WN)
to retrieve the sentence.
- satellite synset
- Synset in an adjective cluster
representing a concept that is
similar in meaning to the concept
represented by its head synset.
- semantic concordance
- A textual corpus (Brown Corpus) and
a lexicon (WordNet) so combined
that every substantive word in the
text is linked to its appropriate
sense in the lexicon via a semantic
tag.
- semantic tag
- A pointer from a text file to a
specific sense of a word in the
WordNet database. A semantic tag
in a semantic concordance is
represented by a sense key.
- semantic pointer
- A semantic pointer indicates a
relation between synsets (word
meanings).
- sense
- A meaning of a word in WordNet.
Each sense of a word is in a different
synset.
- sense key
- Information necessary to find a
sense in the WordNet database. A
sense key combines a lemma field
and codes for the synset type, lexicographer
id, lexicographer file
number, and information about a
satellite's head synset, if
required. See senseidx(5WN)
for a
description of the format of a
sense key.
- sister
- Matching strings that are both the
immediate hyponyms of the same
superordinate.
- subordinate
- Same as hyponym.
- superordinate
- Same as hypernym.
- synset
- A synonym set; a set of words that
are interchangeable in some context.
- troponym
- A verb expressing a specific manner
elaboration of another verb. X is
a troponym of Y if to X is to Y in
some manner.
- twin
- Synsets having at least three words
in common.
- unique beginner
- A noun synset with no superordinate.
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