Encoding collocations in DiCoInfo: From formal to user-friendly representations
Marie-claude l’Homme, Benoît Robichaud, Patrick Leroyer · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2012
This contribution presents an online lexical database and shows how some of its data categories were converted to make them more accessible to users. The database is called DiCoInfo and contains English, French, and Spanish terms related to the fields of computing and the Internet. Entries are compiled according to the principles of Explanatory Combinatorial Lexicology, ECL (Mel’čuk et al. 1995). First, we present the basic structure of the entry, focussing on the encoding of collocations (based on lexical functions). Then, we show how the meaning of collocations can be described with natural language explanations, how actantial structures can be better reflected in these explanations, how users can browse collocations in order to find collocates that express specific meanings, and finally how they can search for translations of collocations. Our work tends to demonstrate that, even though the encoding performed by lexicographers is semi-formal and proves necessary for the new functionalities described, it can still lend itself to adaptations defined according to specific user needs, and ultimately to meet those needs. This seems to be confirmed by the preliminary results of a pilot study we conducted on the browsing of collocations.