Table of Contents
wngloss - glossary of terms used in WordNet system
The WordNet Reference Manual consists of Unix-style manual pages divided
into sections as follows:
Section | Description |
1 | WordNet User
Commands |
3 | WordNet Library Functions |
5 | WordNet File Formats |
7 | Miscellaneous Information about WordNet |
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 generally distributed.
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.
- collocation
- A collocation in WordNet is a string of two or more words, connected
by spaces or hyphens. Examples are: man-eating~shark , blue-collar , depend~on
, line~of~products . In the database files spaces are represented as underscore
(_ ) characters.
- coordinate
- Coordinate terms are nouns or verbs that have
the same hypernym .
- cross-cluster pointer
- A semantic pointer from one
adjective cluster to another.
- 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
- Verb
senses that similar in meaning and thus manually grouped together.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- unique beginner
- A noun synset with no superordinate
.
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