Entry structure – why?
Lexonomy requires the user to define the entry structure – what the entry is composed of. This ensures that all entries are built consistently and that important information is not omitted. It also ensures that each type of information goes into its predefined spot. This makes the data structured. Structured data can be exported easily into a variety of formats. Structured data are also future-proof – they can be used in systems not yet designed, or converted into formats which do not exist yet but will exist in future.
The entry structure is completely flexible and depends on the dictionary author. Lexonomy can work with very simple structures, such as bilingual glossaries with just the word and its translation, as well as with complex structures including multiple word senses, translations into several languages, a large number of examples, labels, tags or audio, video and multimedia elements.
Example only. Lexonomy allows both simpler and more complex structures, including user-defined structures and user-defined elements.
Not interested?
If you only plan a very basic or simple project, such as a simple glossary or a simple bilingual wordlist, you may like to start with the predefined templates and not worry about the structure too much.
What is the entry structure?
Entry structure is a way of telling Lexonomy what components are allowed in your dictionary entries. Lexonomy needs to know whether the entry must, should or can contain the translation, pronunciation, example sentences, images, sounds, collocations etc.
Compulsory or optional
Each entry component can be compulsory (all entries must contain it) or optional (may not be present in all entries). This ensures that dictionary editors do not forget to insert important information.
Quantity
The required number of each component can be specified. For example, the minimum and/or maximum number of example sentences can be specified. This will control what information the editors can insert.
Hierarchy: conditional elements or relations
Entry structure should be hierarchical. It should indicate which elements depend on other elements. For example, the translation of an example sentence should depend on the example sentence. This prevents the translation to be inserted without the original sentence.
When elements are moved or copied within an entry, the dependent elements are moved or copied with them automatically.
List of elements
The structure of dictionary entries in Lexonomy is not limited in any way. Entries can contain any common elements as well as specific elements required by specialized dictionaries. Multimedia are also supported.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of the possible entry elements:
- headword
- part(s) of speech
- frequency of use
- pronunciation(s)
- phonetic transcription(s)
- transliteration (e.g. a Chinese word transliterated into the latin script)
- word forms / derived forms
- word senses
- definition / explanation
- translation into one or more languages
- example(s) of use
- translation of the example of use
- collocations
- collocation examples
- synonyms / antonyms / thesaurus (with examples)
- related words
Multimedia elements
- links to webpages
- images (illustrations of the meaning, photos, scanned documents etc.)
- sounds (pronunciation, example sentence recordings or other sound files
- video
- animations
- interactive online content
None of the elements are compulsory. The user decides which elements are necessary for the concrete dictionary. Users can also introduce their own elements not listed above.
