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 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.
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, blue-collar, 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 .
Table of Contents