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Abstract : |
The following definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary capture the fundamental problem in designing a database for a dynamic dictionary: DICTIONARY. 1. A book dealing with the individual words of a language (or certain specified classes of them), so as to set forth their orthography, pronunciation, signification, and use, their synonyms, derivation, and history, or at least some of these facts; for convenience of reference, the words are arranged in some order, now, in most languages, alphabetical; and in larger dictionaries the information given is illustrated by quotations from literature; a word-book, vocabulary, or lexicon. 2. b. fig. A person or thing regarded as a repository of knowledge, convenient for consultation. Dictionaries have typically been designed as alphabetically arranged books. As such they blend presentational technique and information content to produce external, stable, communicative artifacts. 1, |
