


WordNet                                              WNGLOSS(7WN)



NAME
     wngloss - glossary of terms used in WordNet system

DESCRIPTION
     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|
        |________|_________________________________________|


  System Description
     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 lexicogra-
     pher 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.


  Database Organization
     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  rela-
     tions  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



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WordNet                                              WNGLOSS(7WN)



     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 organiza-
     tion 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.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
     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.   Defini-
     tions  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.




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WordNet                                              WNGLOSS(7WN)



     base form                The base form of a word or colloca-
                              tion  is  the form to which inflec-
                              tions are added.

     basic synset             Syntactically,  same   as   synset.
                              Term  is  used  in  wninput(5WN) to
                              help explain differences in  enter-
                              ing synsets in lexicographer files.

     collocation              A  collocation  in  WordNet  is   a
                              string  of  two or more words, con-
                              nected by spaces or hyphens.  Exam-
                              ples  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  adjec-
                              tive cluster to another.

     derivationally related forms
                              A  search  that  displays   lexical
                              links  between  terms  in different
                              syntactic categories that have  the
                              same root form.

     direct antonyms          A pair of words between which there
                              is  an associative bond built up by
                              co-occurrences.  In adjective clus-
                              ters,  direct antonyms appears only
                              in head synsets.

     domain                   A topical classification to which a
                              synset   has  been  linked  with  a
                              CATEGORY, REGION or USAGE pointer.

     domain term              A synset  belonging  to  a  topical
                              class.   A  domain  term is further
                              identified     as      being      a
                              CATEGORY_TERM,    REGION_TERM    or
                              USAGE_TERM.

     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



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WordNet                                              WNGLOSS(7WN)



                              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 con-
                              taining  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 holo-
                              nym 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 hypo-
                              nym 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.  Usually the base form for a
                              word or collocation.

     lexical pointer          A lexical pointer indicates a rela-
                              tion between words in synsets (word
                              forms).

     lexicographer file       Files containing the raw  data  for
                              WordNet  synsets,  edited  by lexi-
                              cographers, that are input  to  the
                              grind program to generate a WordNet
                              database.

     lexicographer id (lex id)
                              A  decimal   integer   that,   when
                              appended onto lemma, uniquely iden-
                              tifies a sense within a  lexicogra-
                              pher file.




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WordNet                                              WNGLOSS(7WN)



     monosemous               Having only one sense in a  syntac-
                              tic 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.



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WordNet                                              WNGLOSS(7WN)



     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 dif-
                              ferent 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, lex-
                              icographer 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 con-
                              text.

     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  superordi-
                              nate.















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