Classifying Lexical Items

[Emmanuel Adegbuyi]

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine is working on a dictionary of fashion terms over a period of time, and she's using FLEx for the project.

In the final output, she needs to classify the lexical items in to different domains like:

• Clothing
• Hairstyles
• Accessories
• Body Modifications
• Cosmetics and Makeup, and
• Footwear

These domains would be further subcategorized into a number of time ranges.

What is the best way to work with this in FLEx?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Emmanuel

[Olanrewaju Samuel]

Hi, this looks like an excellent idea.

However, what do you mean by "number of times"?

I think fashion is a domain itself. 

The person can specify by using a form of "dialect variations".

Do let me know your answer to my question then I could advise further.

Regards, 

Samuel. 

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[Emmanuel Adegbuyi]

Hello Samuel,

Thank you for the prompt response.

What I meant was that she intends to group these terms in terms of the time span during which they were prominent. Hence, the categorical labels would have the following subdivisions:

• 1900 - 1950
• 1950 - 2000
• 2000 till date

My original intention was to manipulate the already existing semantic domains list to accommodate this sort of arrangement, since the classified dictionary view is based on this list.

Would that work, or what do you suggest?

Thank you,

Emmanuel

[Olanrewaju Samuel]

Hi again!

I think what would work is to create a category that will be "historical" or year.

I think there is a category for regional dialectal variation where one could specify the form one is building in the database. 

For example, you may be differentiating between Received Pronunciation (RP) English and American English with a form of say glottalization.

You could replicate same too, for your database. 

I hope this helps.

Regards, 

Samuel. 

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[Adegbuyi Emmanuel]

Thanks for the help, Samuel.

I'd try that out, and let you know how things unfold.

________

Emmanuel O. Adegbuyi

B.A Linguistics, University of Ibadan.

Lead Designer, Branded by Steward

Host, TalkLin NG Podcast.

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[Andreas_Joswig]

Hi Emmanuel,

The way you describe it, I think the best option you have is using academic domains. This is a field that is often displayed using abbreviations in a dictionary, such as 'math' for mathematics, or 'med' for medicine. This list of domains is fully editable, and can be found in the Lists area of FLEx:

As you can see in this picture, the academic domains can be arranged hierarchically, so this would be a way to do the period-based subclassification.

But I also like Samuel's idea of using dialect variations for the period distinctions. These are found in another List in the List area:

"Variant Types" are alphabetically sorted at the very bottom of the Lists area. One Variant Subtype are "Dialect Variants" where you can add individual dialects that can be assigned to each lexeme form. Here you could place each fashion period as a dialect. This works best if the same periods apply to all your fashion categories. If they are different per category, you would probably better handle them as subdomains of the academic domain.

Andreas

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Hambühren, Germany / Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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[Emmanuel Adegbuyi]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for the detailed advice. I would also attempt that and see how that goes.

[Kevin Warfel]

Dear Emmanuel,

 

Having read and considered the suggestions made by Samuel and Andreas, here is what I would do if it was my FLEx project.

 

1) For the topics, I would use the built-in semantic domain list but add some new subdomains to it, as necessary or helpful.

 

The topics you mentioned all seem to fit in this portion of the semantic domain hierarchy:

I strongly encourage people to avoid changing any of the existing domains, but adding subdomains that are not in the standard list is appropriate.

 

 

2) For the date range, I would create and use either:

• a custom field (of List type) in conjunction with a custom list

OR

• a custom Variant Type (e.g., Era, Date Range)

 

It is possible to use the Dialect Labels field or dialectal variants for this purpose, but it seems clearer to me to use something whose label communicates the true nature of the data.

 

I would use the first of my two proposed options (custom field) if I wanted to simply mark which time period a particular term is associated with. This would not provide any cross-referencing to other entries.

 

I would use the second option (variant type) if I wanted to link together entries that refer to the same thing at different periods in history. Then my entry for “kohl” would show as a variant of “eyeliner” from an earlier era.

 

FWIW,

 

Kevin Warfel

Associate Dictionary & Lexicography Services Coordinator

Rapid Word Collection workshop consultant

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[Emmanuel Adegbuyi]

Hello, everyone.

Thank you for your help with properly classifying the lexical items in the project; I was able to get that done, thanks to all your recommendations.

However, I have another question. Is there a way to export the classified dictionary using Pathway? The goal is to export the classified dictionary into either a DOCX or ODT format.

Thank you.

_____

Emmanuel