Reports on a project showing that relational data models, including unnormalized models that allow the nesting of relations, cannot fully capture the structural properties of lexical information. A feature-based model that allows for a full representation of some nesting and defines a factoring mechanism is described and demonstrated. (38…

Discusses lexicographic theory, various problems and models behind dictionary construction, and the role of the "cultural dictionary." (AM)

Demonstrates the use of a directed graph model as a tool for finding desirable minimum vocabularies to be used in indexing and information retrieval. The basic algorithm is outlined, possible enhancements to the model are discussed, and further research questions are suggested. (Author/CLB)

MARANAO, OF THE MALAYO-POLYNESIAN LANGUAGE GROUP, IS ONE OF THE EIGHT MAJOR LANGUAGES IN THE PHILIPPINES AND IS SPOKEN BY 400,000 MOSLEMS ON THE ISLAND OF MINDANAO. THIS DICTIONARY, BASED PRIMARILY ON THE SPOKEN FORM OF THE LANGUAGE, CONTAINS 18,000 MARANAO ENTRIES IN PART I AND THEIR ALPHABETIZED ENGLISH GLOSSES CROSS-REFERENCED IN PART II. THE…

TWO VIEWS OF A DICTIONARY'S PURPOSE CAME INTO SHARP CONFLICT UPON THE PUBLICATION OF WEBSTER'S "THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY." THE FIRST VIEW IS THAT A DICTIONARY IS A REFERENCE BOOK ON LANGUAGE ETIQUETTE, AN AUTHORITY FOR MAINTAINING THE PURITY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE SECOND IS THAT A DICTIONARY IS A SCIENTIFIC…