Do dictionary users really look up frequent words? — on the overestimation of the value of corpus-based lexicography

Schryver, G-M De; Joffe, David; Joffe, Pitta; Hillewaert, Sarah

doi:10.4314/lex.v16i1.51488

Cited by 12 publications

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Abstract:In this paper, we use the 2012 log files of two German online dictionaries (Digital Dictionary of the German Language1 and the German Version of Wiktionary) and the 100,000 most frequent words in the Mannheim German Reference Corpus from 2009 to answer the question of whether dictionary users really do look up frequent words, first asked by de Schryver et al (2006). By using an approach to the comparison of log files and corpus data which is completely different from that of the aforementioned authors, we provide empirical evidence that indicates -contrary to the results of de Schryver et al and Verlinde/Binon (2010) -that the corpus frequency of a word can indeed be an important factor in determining what online dictionary users look up.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dictionary users do look up frequent words. A log file analysis

Koplenig¹,

Meyer²,

Müller-Spitzer³

2014

Using Online Dictionaries

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Abstract:In this paper, we use the 2012 log files of two German online dictionaries (Digital Dictionary of the German Language1 and the German Version of Wiktionary) and the 100,000 most frequent words in the Mannheim German Reference Corpus from 2009 to answer the question of whether dictionary users really do look up frequent words, first asked by de Schryver et al. (2006). By using an approach to the comparison of log files and corpus data which is completely different from that of the aforementioned authors, we provide empirical evidence that indicates -contrary to the results of de Schryver et al. and Verlinde/Binon (2010) -that the corpus frequency of a word can indeed be an important factor in determining what online dictionary users look up. Finally, we incorporate word dass Information readily available in Wiktionary into our analysis to improve our results considerably.

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confidence: 99%

Dictionary users do look up frequent words. A log file analysis

Koplenig¹,

Meyer²,

Müller-Spitzer³

2014

Using Online Dictionaries

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In this paper, we use the 2012 log files of two German online dictionaries (Digital Dictionary of the German Language1 and the German Version of Wiktionary) and the 100,000 most frequent words in the Mannheim German Reference Corpus from 2009 to answer the question of whether dictionary users really do look up frequent words, first asked by de Schryver et al. (2006). By using an approach to the comparison of log files and corpus data which is completely different from that of the aforementioned authors, we provide empirical evidence that indicates -contrary to the results of de Schryver et al. and Verlinde/Binon (2010) -that the corpus frequency of a word can indeed be an important factor in determining what online dictionary users look up. Finally, we incorporate word dass Information readily available in Wiktionary into our analysis to improve our results considerably.

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“…De Schryver et al (2006) mention that users often seem to greet the dictionary on arrival. This was also recalled in an interview with Barak Turovsky from Google Translate (Orliński 2017).…”

Section: Figure 1: Number Of Strings Per Category Among the Top 500mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the TshwaneDJe Swahili-English Dictionary 2 joined the market, it was the first and still remains the only corpus-driven electronic dictionary of Swahili with a new approach to the lemmatisation of headwords (De Schryver et al 2006). The content of the dictionary is based on web-based corpus data and it includes over 16,000 entries.…”

Section: Citation-forms In Swahili Dictionariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revisiting Lemma Lists in Swahili Dictionaries

Wójtowicz

2017

LEXI

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When compiling a dictionary, a lexicographer has a set of decisions to make -starting with drawing up a lemma list to such issues as formatting a dictionary entry. Relying on corpus data while designing a lemma list and describing entries is standard in present lexicography, but there are still decisions -like the choice of a lemma or how to treat derivatives -that are often intuition-based. This article aims to investigate whether decisions put forward in Swahili dictionaries comply with users' expectations. We analyse log files from the new Swahili-Polish dictionary to investigate why looking up words goes wrong, and evaluate the choice of a lemma and the treatment of derivatives in Swahili dictionaries. Based on such data we intend to expand or modify the existing electronic dictionary to adapt to users' level of grammar and dictionary structure knowledge. During this research we identified a list of lemma lacuna that cause the majority of unsuccessful Swahili searches. The study shows that users know and understand the lemmatisation strategy of the dictionary but also reveals which word forms cause the most problems and how the lemma list of Swahili dictionaries could be expanded. Keywords: DICTIONARY USER RESEARCH, LOG FILES ANALYSIS, SWAHILI-POLISH DICTIONARY, LEMMA LIST, DERIVATIVESOpsomming: Die herbesoek van lemmalyste in Swahili-woordeboeke. Wanneer 'n woordeboek saamgestel word, moet 'n leksikograaf 'n reeks besluite neem -van die opstel van 'n lemmalys, tot kwessies soos die formatering van 'n woordeboekinskrywing. Om staat te maak op korpusdata wanneer 'n lemmalys opgestel en inskrywings beskryf word, is standaardpraktyk in die huidige leksikografie, maar daar is steeds dikwels besluite -soos die keuse van 'n lemma of hoe om afleidings te hanteer -wat op intuïsie gebaseer is. Hierdie artikel beoog om te ondersoek of besluite wat in Swahili-woordeboeke geneem is, voldoen aan gebruikers se verwagtings. Ons analiseer loglêers van die nuwe Swahili-Poolse woordeboek om te ondersoek waarom die opsoek van woorde skeefloop, en evalueer die lemmakeuse en die hantering van afleidings in Swahili-woordeboeke. Ons beoog om die bestaande elektroniese woordeboek op grond van hierdie data uit te brei of te wysig om aan te pas by gebruikers se vlak van kennis ten opsigte van grammatika en woordeboekstruktuur. Tydens hierdie navorsing het ons 'n lys van leemtes ten opsigte van lemmas geïdentifiseer wat die meerderheid van onsuksesvolle Swahili-soektogte veroorsaak. Die navorsing toon dat gebruikers die woordeboek se lemmatiseringstrategie ken en verstaan, maar openbaar ook watter woordvorme die meeste probleme veroorsaak en hoe die lemmalys van Swahiliwoordeboeke uitgebrei kan word.

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“…Only a few have been based on log files, among them De Schryver and Joffe (2004), De Schryver et al (2006), Johnsen (2005, 2007) and Almind (2008). User research by means of log files is a new method and it is therefore reasonable to believe that all its potentialities have not by far been explored, also because electronic dictionaries themselves are rapidly developing and changing.…”

Section: Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on Lexicographical User Research

Tarp

2011

Lex

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Abstract:The last decades have seen a growing interest in theoretical and practical problems related to lexicographical user research. Starting with a discussion of the concept of lexicographically relevant user needs, this contribution analyses, utilising the lexicographical function theory, various types of needs to be taken into account when doing this kind of research. It then discusses the positive and negative aspects of the various methods applied, i.e. questionnaires, interviews, observation, protocols, experiments, tests, and log files. With reference to both lexicographical and sociological literature, it raises a number of problems common to most of the lexicographical user research conducted until now and recommends the application of scientific methods in future research. Finally, it proposes a number of alternative methods in order to obtain more knowledge about the real user needs. Keywords: LEXICOGRAPHY, FUNCTION THEORY, DICTIONARY USAGE, USER NEEDS, USER TYPOLOGY, USER SITUATIONS, USER RESEARCH, RESEARCH METHODS, QUES-TIONNAIRES, INTERVIEWS, OBSERVATION, EXPERIMENTS, TESTS, LOG FILESOpsomming: Gedagtes oor leksikografiese gebruikersnavorsing. Die laaste dekades het 'n groeiende belangstelling in teoretiese en praktiese probleme betreffende leksikografiese gebruikersnavorsing gesien. Deur met 'n bespreking van die konsep van leksikografies tersaaklike gebruikersbehoeftes te begin, ontleed hierdie bydrae, met gebruikmaking van die leksikografiese funksieteorie, verskillende soorte behoeftes wat in aanmerking geneem moet word wanneer hierdie soort navorsing gedoen word. Dit bespreek dan die positiewe en negatiewe aspekte van die verskillende metodes wat benut word, d.w.s. vraelyste, onderhoude, waarneming, protokolle, eksperimente, toetse, en loglêers. Met verwysing na sowel leksikografiese as sosiologiese literatuur, bring dit 'n aantal probleme ter sprake tipies van die meeste leksikografiese gebruikersnavorsing wat tot nou toe gedoen is en beveel dit die toepassing van wetenskaplike metodes in toekomstige navorsing aan. Ten slotte stel dit 'n aantal alternatiewe metodes voor om meer kennis te verkry oor die werklike gebruikersbehoeftes.

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Do dictionary users really look up frequent words? — on the overestimation of the value of corpus-based lexicography

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Dictionary users do look up frequent words. A log file analysis

Dictionary users do look up frequent words. A log file analysis

Revisiting Lemma Lists in Swahili Dictionaries

Reflections on Lexicographical User Research

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