EuroWordNet Viewer
Ilse Cuypers, Geert Adriaens,
Lernout and Hauspie
Version 2, Final
1 May 1997
Deliverable D008, Work Package 6
EuroWordNet, LE2-4003
Identification number
|
LE-4003-D-008
|
Type
|
Document |
Title
|
EuroWordNet Viewer |
Status
|
Draft/Final |
Deliverable
|
D008 |
Work Package
|
WP6 |
Task
|
T6.2 |
Period covered
|
October 1996 till May 1997 |
Date
|
1 May 1997 |
Version
|
2 |
Number of pages
|
17 |
Authors
|
Ilse Cuypers, Geert Adriaens, Lernout and Hauspie |
WP/Task responsible |
Lernout and Hauspie. |
Project contact point |
Piek Vossen Computer Centrum Letteren University of Amsterdam Spuistraat 134 1012 VB Amsterdam The Netherlands tel. +31 20 525 4669 fax. +31 20 525 4429 e-mail: Piek.Vossen@let.uva.nl |
EC project officer |
Jose Soler |
Status
|
Public |
Actual distribution
|
Project Consortium
|
Suplementary notes
|
n.a. |
Key words |
multilingual viewer, semantic network, parallel tree display, parallel browser |
Abstract |
This document describes the functionality of the EWN data viewer, both its monolingual and in its multilingual viewing capabilities. |
Status of the abstract
|
Final |
Received on |
|
Recipient=s catalogue number |
|
|
|
Executive SummaryExecutive SummaryExecutive SummaryExecutive Summary
This document is the user documentation of the public EuroWordNet viewer, the tool to consult and export EuroWordNet data. It describes all functionality that is addressed by the viewer, both in its monolingual and its multilingual form. The monolingual variant allows viewing data within one language, whereas the multilingual variant allows comparing languages pairwise, using the EuroWordNet Interlingual Index (ILI) as a backbone tying both languages together. All data are presented in tree-like structures, and several methods are offered for inspecting the data.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction *
2. Monolingual view *
Browse/Query *
Monolingual relationships *
Relationships to the ILI *
Info dialog Box *
Options *
Export *
Filters *
Several monolingual views *
3. Multilingual view *
SL vs RL *
Equivalence relations between SL and RL *
ANNEX : DESCRIPTION OF THE MENUS *
The tool presented in this document is the EuroWordNet viewer. It is a viewer in which users can look at the EuroWordNet databases from different perspectives.
From a monolingual point of view they can look at one language (its internal semantic relationships, and the links to the Interlingual Index or ILI). He can select parts of the data through lookup, expansion and interface selections. From a multilingual point of view he can look at two languages simultaneously (again, their internal semantic relationships, their links to the ILI, and their links to each other through the ILI). In the monolingual view, several monolingual windows can be opened to look at different languages (or the same language) in different windows. In the multilingual view, several windows can be opened that each show two languages in combination (a comparison is always limited to two languages, but several windows can be opened with pairwise combinations of the same or other languages). The viewer also allows users to run monolingual and multilingual windows next to each other. All these possible angles are covered in the following paragraphs.
The figure below shows the overall organization of the wordnet for one language, whether it be shown alone in the monolingual view, or in combination with another language in the multilingual view. The wordnet is represented as a tree, with the search key literal as its root. The next tree level represents the possible part of speech readings for the word. Under each part of speech, the different senses of the word are shown. When the user unfolds the tree for a certain word, a sense is shown by its literals (extended with a colon plus their sense number), and its links to the ILI. Each ILI record is shown via its gloss (if there is one), preceded with an icon representing the link type (eq_synonym, etc. -- see the legend explained further below). Moreover, when the user unfolds a sense by clicking on the "+" in front of it, he gets to see the language-internal relationships for that sense (with their names in boldface -- not shown in the figure here). What is essential to this representation is that the language at hand and the ILI are woven together into one tree. The ILI records always stand out because of the simple and clear icons that precede them. After experimenting with different representations, this one seemed to be the simplest, clearest, and easiest to read and manipulate, also in the multilingual view, where two languages are shown side by side. As to this multilingual view, an important aspect of the viewer is of course that the links between the two languages (through the ILI) are shown on the screen as lines between the common ILI record(s) on both sides (this is explained further below).
A typical view of a wordnet tree for one language in EuroWordNet
In a monolingual view the user looks at only one language. The viewer displays the structure of the relationships between word meanings within the wordnet at hand. That structure is basically displayed in the form of a tree, as explained above.
On the left part of the window, the words of the database are displayed. There are two ways to view them: Browse or Query. The option Browse allows to browse through the word list of entry keys as soon as one or more letters of a string are typed in. When double clicking on a word of the database list, it is automatically added to the top of the concept list that is viewed for the language at hand. Query performs a search for a particular string typed into the query field. A simple wildcard mechanism allows the user to look for sets of words that share a common string. In English, for instance, *ity gives the user all words ending in -ity; under* gives the user all words starting with under-, and under*e all words starting in under- and ending in -e. Next to the *, the user can also use the "?" to find a match with one character: tra? for English will give him trap, tram, etc; tra?? will give him tramp, trawl, etc, tra?p will give him tramp. A wildcard search can only be started in Query mode; the search result is shown in the same way as the list in Browse mode.
The shortcut F2 allows to toggle between Browse and Query.
The searches can be done for several languages. The tab next to the Browse/Query tab allows the user to select the languages. The following shortcuts allow to switch from one language to another:
F6 switch to English
F7 switch to Español
F8 switch to Italiano
F9 switch to Nederlands
First the user has to type in a word and selected a language, then he must click on the button Lookup to perform the search from the variant or literal level. The tool displays for each concept the monolingual relationships and the links to the ILI.
A search performed by Lookup always results in a list of word meanings or word instances related to that literal. When entering a literal in the lookup box (e.g., Aacademic@) the word meanings that are attached to that literal are displayed in the form of a tree. The word meanings are grouped together according to their part of speech. If a word meaning is selected, more information can be shown. If the DataTip option is checked in the OPTIONS menu, the user gets information about an object when he slides over it with the mouse. For a synset member, he gets to see the definition in the language at hand; for an ILI record, he sees the gloss (truncated to the window size).
By double clicking a line in the tree, the selected item can be expanded and more information is shown. When double clicking a word meaning, the different available relationships connected to that word meaning are displayed. Expanding one of the relations results in a new list of word meanings attached to that relationship. Double clicking an expanded line closes that part of the tree again.
The word meanings in the wordnet are represented by their synset. Each variant of that synset is followed by a sense number. Some of the possible monolingual or language internal relationships are the following:
has near synonym has hyperonym has hyponym causes is caused by X-POS near synonym X-POS near antonym X-POS has hyperonym X-POS has hyponym |
The ILI records are also represented by their gloss. If no gloss is available, the message <No Gloss> is displayed. The links to the ILI are represented by simple, powerful, colored icons. The legend is as follows:
X no link red = eq-synonym link dark green . eq-near synonym link light green8 eq-hyperonym link9 eq-hyponym link-> causes <- is caused by |
If one word meaning is linked to several ILI-records, all these ILI-records are listed under the word meaning. If multiple word meanings are linked to the same ILI-record, the ILI-record is repeated with each word meaning. An overview of word meanings linked to the same ILI can be obtained by comparing a wordnet with itself (see Section 3).
The Info Dialog Box displays additional information for each word meaning. First a word meaning needs to be selected before the dialog box can display the appropriate information. This dialog box can be activated by the option Info Dialog in the menu VIEW or by the shortcut Ctrl-Shift-I. The window is resizable and can be dragged and dropped all over the screen. When it is shown in the middle of the screen, it looks like a regular window, and can be dragged by its blue top bar. When it is shown at the top or the bottom of the screen, it automatically resizes to the full width of the screen. To select it in that position, the user has to point at its border line just above the tabs (hold down the mouse button when he selects the line, and drag).
The information shown in the Info Dialog Box is organized in five tabs: Gloss, Synset, Variant, ILI and Export.
Gloss displays the gloss(es) for the ILI-record(s) and for the source language. If a word meaning is selected, both glosses appear. If only the ILI-gloss is selected, only the gloss for the ILI record is shown.
Synset displays the synset for the ILI-record and for the source language. If a word meaning is selected, both synsets appear. If only the ILI-gloss is selected, only the synset for the ILI is shown.
Variant displays information on the variants (currently not implemented yet)
ILI displays information on the ILI-record (currently not implemented yet)
Export allows to export data to a file. To export data, the user has to make a selection of the data, specify an output filename and click on the button Save. Browse allows him to specify a pathname for saving or retrieving export data. Note that in this sense, Browse is the standard Windows name for directory searching, and not for dictionary searching. The button Edit allows to edit the data collected in an export file.
The icon Toggle Info Dialog (Ctrl+Shift+I) allows to activate or desactivate the display of the Info Dialog box.
The right button of the mouse contains some additional options (see the figure above): Lookup, Follow(with a submenu), Clear Subtree, Clear Tree, and Export Concept.
Lookup allows to perform a lookup search for the selected element of the synset. The result of this search is displayed at the top of the window, the other information scrolls down.
Follow Allows to perform a quick search for several relationships. This search immediately displays all the occurrences of a relationship, instead of having to click manually on each word meaning. In the above screen-dump Follow is activated for a word-sense and the relations to be followed are language-internal relations. To follow an equivalent relation, you should first select the ILI-gloss with the left mouse button and next use the right mouse button to activate the Follow menu. Follow: Equivalent Link can then be activated.
Equivalent Synonym immediately shows the list of all the top equivalent synonyms that exist for the given word meaning. This option only applies for multilingual views, and only when the ILI-gloss is selected. It is greyed for a monolingual view or when a word sense in the synset is selected. It gives a warning if no equivalent synonym relation exists ("No Equivalent synonym").
Top Hyperonym immediately shows the entire tree of the hyperonyms, starting from the beginning concept and going to the top hyperonym.
If the relationships are not available, the message ARelationship not available@ pops up.
One-up One-down starts from one specific concept that has a relationship with a concept higher in the tree (typically a hyponym and its hyperonym, a meronym and its holonym). It follows this higher concept across to the other language, and it unfolds the complete list of specific concepts with the same relation on the other side (if there are any). This is useful for checking parallelism in subtrees that typically contain a large number of branches (i.e. specific concepts under a general one). ILI records that are used by a Reference Language and that are not linked to concepts in the Source Language within the scope can be considered as potential new or better ILI records for the word meanings in the SL. If a literal is selected that does not belong to a type of relation for which one-up one-down is possible, a message is displayed to this effect ("One-up one-down requires a parent link").
For the following relationships, the search immediately displays all the occurrences of a relationship, instead of the user having to click manually on each word meaning:
Near Synonym
Hyperonym
Hyponym
All Meronyms
All Holonyms
Cause <-> {<-> indicates that it applies for Causes (->) and Is Caused by (<-)}
SubEvent <> {<> indicates that it applies for Is SubEvent (<) and Has SubEvent (>)}
Clear Subtree clears the subtree selected on the screen. Depending on the place of the selection, one or more lines will disappear from the tree, i.e. the whole subtree starting from the line selected. For instance, if the selection is on a part of speech line (noun, verb,...), everything below that part of speech node in the tree will be cleared. If the user is pointing at one concept, only that concept will be cleared (along with all the information attached to it). Since two languages may be active in a multilingual view, and it may not be clear where the focus is, the Clear Tree option will be greyed out if no language is clearly in focus. The user has to click in the subtree he wants to clear first; then it becomes erasable.
Clear Tree clears all the language data currently displayed and in focus on the screen. It clears the data for only one language: if two languages are displayed, only the data of the activated language will be cleared. Since two languages may be active in a multilingual view, and it may not be clear where the focus is, the Clear Tree option will be greyed out if no language is clearly in focus. The user has to click in the tree view he wants to clear first; then it becomes erasable.
Export Concept sends the data to the Export tab in the Info dialog box. If no word meaning is selected, the option is greyed.
After selecting a concept, it can be exported by clicking the Export Concept option accessible via the right mouse button. The concept is then collected in the Export tab in the Info dialog box. The option Save allows to save the collected concepts. Edit makes it possible to edit the data in an export file. It is possible to give a new name to the file by writing it in the Filename box. Browse allows to save files under a new name, and to put them in a new location. It can also view previous saved files which can be viewed through Edit. Remember Browse doesn=t allow to import previous saved filesl!
Note
The icon Add note or the button Insert allow the user to insert notes in the tree structure.
The user can set certain filters that will be used when displaying the information on the screen. On word meaning level filters can be applied to the type of relation and part of speech. Any number of relations (with or without specified values) may be specified; the word meanings for which such a specification holds will be shown in the view. The querying of data can result in multiple word meanings.
The icon Toggle Filter Box (Ctrl+Shift+F) allows to activate or desactivate the display of the dialog box for filters.
In this monolingual view it is also possible to open more than one window. The user can select a monolingual view, choose a language and type in an entry. He can select a second monolingual view in FILE, NEW, for the same or for another language. He can choose one of the two tile options, either by selecting the options in the menu WINDOW or by clicking on the icons. This can be repeated for all the available languages. The monolingual wordnets are tiled and it is possible to browse through the windows separately.
The icon New Monolingual opens a new empty window, in which the user can display a new monolingual view. The same goes for the icon New Multilingual.
The icon Toggle Input Bar allows to show or hide the input information bar both for a monolingual and for a multilingual view.
The icons Tile Windows Vertically and Tile Windows Horizontally allow to tile the windows as non-overlapping tiles, vertically or horizontally.
In a multilingual view the user looks at two languages at the same time. There are different multilingual strategies depending on the purpose of the user.
The user will always take a particular language as a starting point. This language is called the Source Language (SL). He will compare the SL with one or more other languages, called the Reference Languages (RL). For each comparison the user needs to define the set of word meanings and their language-internal relations within which a cross-wordnet comparison will take place. The set of word meanings and relations are called the lexical-semantic scope. The scope of a multilingual comparison can be established through lookup/query or tree building in different wordnets.
Equivalence relations between SL and RL
The user can verify the equivalence relations between word meanings from the SL and word meanings from the RL. One word meaning of the SL can be linked to several word meanings of the RL and vice versa. Links between SL and RL are indicated by lines. These lines are always connected to the ILI-records, never to the word meanings or the wordnets. The lines can have the following colors and meanings:
dashed grey indicate that SL and RL are linked for certain word meanings, but the link(s) is/are not activated. (Multiple dashed lines are possible.)
full grey indicate that SL and RL are linked for certain word meanings. The link(s) is/are activated but not in focus. (Multiple grey lines are possible.)
full blue indicate that SL and RL are linked for certain word meanings. A blue link (always one at the time) shows a link between two concepts in focus. If several links exist, the user can cycle through them using Ctrl-Enter (see also below).
It is also possible to verify the equivalence relations for a whole scope. A scope is the set of word meanings and their relationships. First the user has to display the scope in one of the language windows (left or right). Then he has to click on the icon Synchronize Equivalent synonyms. The corresponding literals in the other language will be displayed. Note that in the RL, no POS will be indicated. This is the case because links were made through the ILI, without any starting keyword that could be looked up.
The user can verify the equivalence relations for one word meaning at a time. In that case, the ILI-record (represented by a gloss) related to a word meaning needs to be selected first. Via the right mouse button, he can select the option Follow: Equivalent Synonym, Near Synonym etc. If the link is available, the tool will display a line between the SL and the RL word meaning.
The icon Synchronize connection allows to circle up and down in the target literals in case of multiple relationships. This is very handy when not all relation pairs are visible in the window. It allows circling through the target literals without having to scroll explicitly. The shortcut for this function is Ctrl-Enter. This function doesn=t allow to generate the equivalent scope of the source language!
The user can also verify whether the language internal configurations of the word meanings linked to intersecting ILI records are parallel across different wordnets. If, for example, Ateen@ in the NL wordnet is linked to the same ILI record Atoe@ as Adedo@ in the ES wordnet, the language internal relations around these s should be parallel.
If the user wants to see all the concepts of a particular language linked to the same ILI record via an equivalent-synonym link, a trick is to compare a language to itself by using the Synchronize Equivalent synonyms or Follow Equivalent synonym functionality. It will show all occurrences of an ILI record on the "Reference Language" side. This can again be a starting point for a synchronization with a different language, if the user looks for parallelism in the use of ILI records.
ANNEX : DESCRIPTION OF THE MENUS
FILE |
|
|
|
NEW |
|
|
NEW MONOLINGUAL VIEW |
Create a new Monolingual view |
|
NEW MULTILINGUAL VIEW |
Create a new Multilingual view |
|
CLOSE |
Close the active view |
|
OPEN DATABASE |
Open a concept database |
|
OPEN VIEW |
Open a view that had been saved before (i.e. the totality of all concepts that were in the view when it was saved). Beware: this is not an Export view, since exported data cannot be imported again. |
|
SAVE VIEW |
Save the active view: this is the current workspace or the active window containing all concepts that are visible in the current working session. It is not the Export view! |
|
SAVE VIEW AS |
Save the active view with a new name. This is not the Export view! |
|
EXIT |
Quit the application |
|
|
|
EDIT |
|
|
|
UNDO |
Undo the last action |
|
CUT |
Cut the selection |
|
COPY |
Copy the selection |
|
PASTE |
Insert Clipboard contents |
|
CLEAR SUBTREE |
Clear the current subtree from the view |
|
CLEAR TREE |
Clear the current tree (a complete view of one language) |
|
ADD NOTE |
Add a note to the current view |
|
FIND |
Find the specified text |
|
FIND NEXT |
Find the next specified text |
|
FIND PREV |
Find the previous specified text |
|
|
|
VIEW |
|
|
|
TOOLBAR |
Show or hide the toolbar in which all the icons are displayed |
|
STATUS BAR |
Show or hide the bar on the bottom of the screen that indicates the current status of the data display |
|
INPUT DIALOG |
Show or hide the Input Dialog |
|
FILTER DIALOG |
Show or hide the dialog box containing the filter possiblities |
|
INFO DIALOG |
Show or hide the dialog box displaying information on the gloss, the synset, the variants and the ILI. It contains also the possibility to export data to a file. |
|
BROWSE DIALOG |
Show or hide the list of data that are the result of a Browse search |
|
|
|
|
|
|
OPTIONS |
|
|
|
FONT |
Display the dialog box that allows to set the font for the list view. |
|
DATATIP |
If checked, the user gets information about an object when he slides over it with the mouse. For a synset member, he gets to see the definition in the language at hand; for an ILI record, he sees the gloss (truncated to the window size). Having the option on may be easier in certain cases than working with the Info Dialog box. On the other hand, it can be experienced as cluttering the window when the user moves the mouse around; hence, it can be switched off. |
|
|
|
WINDOW |
|
|
NEW WINDOW |
|
Open another window for the active document: monolingual if the user is in the monolingual mode, multilingual if the user is in the multilingual mode. |
CASCADE |
Arrange the windows so they overlap. |
|
|
TILE HORIZONTALLY |
Arrange windows horizontally as non-overlapping tiles. |
|
TILE VERTICALLY |
Arrange windows vertically as non-overlapping tiles. |
|
ARRANGE ICONS |
Arrange icons at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
|
HELP |
|
|
|
HELP TOPICS |
Display the list of the help topics. |
|
ABOUT PERISCOPE |
Display information on the tool: program information, version number and copyright. |