J 2023

Avoiding Recursion in the Representation of Subsenses and Subentries in Dictionaries

MĚCHURA, Michal

Basic information

Original name

Avoiding Recursion in the Representation of Subsenses and Subentries in Dictionaries

Authors

MĚCHURA, Michal (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

International Journal of Lexicography, Oxford University Press, 2023, 0950-3846

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10201 Computer sciences, information science, bioinformatics

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Impact factor

Impact factor: 0.500 in 2022

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14330/23:00131138

Organization unit

Faculty of Informatics

DOI

UT WoS

001004292700001

Keywords in English

data modelling; design patterns; recursion; subentries; subsenses

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 8/4/2024 06:49, RNDr. Pavel Šmerk, Ph.D.

Abstract

V originále

Recursion, and recursion-like design patterns, are used in the entry schemas of dictionaries to model subsenses and subentries. Recursion occurs when elements of a given type, such as sense, are allowed to contain elements of the same or similar type, such as sense or subsense. This article argues that recursion unnecessarily increases the computational complexity of entries, making dictionaries less easily processable by machines. The article will show how entry schemas can be simplified by re-engineering subsenses and subentries as relations (like in a relational database) such that we only have flat lists of senses and entries, while the is-subsense-of and is-subentry-of relations are encoded using pairs of unique identifiers. This design pattern losslessly records the same information as recursion (including – importantly – the listing order of items inside an entry) but decreases the complexity of the entry structure and makes dictionary entries more easily machine-processable.