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Dictionaries are often a reflection of their time; their respective (socio-)historical context influences how the meaning of certain lexical units is described. This also applies to descriptions of personal terms such as man or woman. Lexicographers have a special responsibility to comprehensively investigate current language use before describing it in the dictionary. Accordingly, contemporary academic dictionaries are usually corpus-based. However, it is important to acknowledge that language is always embedded in cultural contexts. Our case study investigates differences in the linguistic contexts of the use of man and woman, drawing from a range of language collections (in our case fiction books, popular magazines and newspapers). We explain how potential differences in corpus construction would therefore influence the “reality” depicted in the dictionary. In doing so, we address the far-reaching consequences that the choice of corpus-linguistic basis for an empirical dictionary has on semantic descriptions in dictionary entries.Furthermore, we situate the case study within the context of gender-linguistic issues and discuss how lexicographic teams can engage with how dictionaries might perpetuate traditional role concepts when describing language use.
Dictionaries are often a reflection of their time; their respective (socio-)historical context influences how the meaning of certain lexical units is described. This also applies to descriptions of personal terms such as man or woman. Lexicographers have a special responsibility to comprehensively investigate current language use before describing it in the dictionary. Accordingly, contemporary academic dictionaries are usually corpus-based. However, it is important to acknowledge that language is always embedded in cultural contexts. Our case study investigates differences in the linguistic contexts of the use of man and woman, drawing from a range of language collections (in our case fiction books, popular magazines and newspapers). We explain how potential differences in corpus construction would therefore influence the “reality”1 depicted in the dictionary. In doing so, we address the far-reaching consequences that the choice of corpus-linguistic basis for an empirical dictionary has on semantic descriptions in dictionary entries.
Furthermore, we situate the case study within the context of gender-linguistic issues and discuss how lexicographic teams can engage with how dictionaries might perpetuate traditional role concepts when describing language use.
Wissenschaftlich basierte allgemeine Wörterbücher des Deutschen werden heute meist korpusbasiert erarbeitet, d. h. die in ihnen beschriebene Sprache wird vor der lexikografischen Beschreibung empirisch erforscht. Diese Korpora sind allerdings, wie die großen linguistischen Textsammlungen zum Deutschen allgemein, durch Zeitungstexte dominiert. Daher beruhen die in Wörterbüchern beschriebenen Kollokationen und typischen Verwendungskontexte zumindest teilweise auf dieser Textsorte. Wir untersuchen in unserem Beitrag anhand einer Fallstudie zu Mann und Frau, wie stark sich die Beschreibung solcher Kollokationssets ändern würde, wenn als Korpusgrundlage nicht Zeitungen, sondern Publikumszeitschriften oder belletristische Texte herangezogen würden und wie unterschiedlich demnach Geschlechterstereotype dargestellt würden. Damit diskutieren wir auch die Frage, ob Zeitungstexte in diesem Fall ein adäquates und vielseitiges Abbild des Gebrauchsstandards zeigen. Auf einer allgemeineren Ebene wird dadurch ein grundlegendes Problem korpuslinguistischer Forschungsarbeiten tangiert, nämlich die Frage, inwieweit durch Korpora überhaupt ein ‚objektives‘ Bild der sprachlichen Wirklichkeit gezeichnet werden kann.
Zumutung, Herausforderung, Notwendigkeit? Zum Stand der Forschung zu geschlechtergerechter Sprache
(2022)
Studying Lexical Dynamics and Language Change via Generalized Entropies: The Problem of Sample Size
(2020)
Recently, it was demonstrated that generalized entropies of order α offer novel and important opportunities to quantify the similarity of symbol sequences where α is a free parameter. Varying this parameter makes it possible to magnify differences between different texts at specific scales of the corresponding word frequency spectrum. For the analysis of the statistical properties of natural languages, this is especially interesting, because textual data are characterized by Zipf’s law, i.e., there are very few word types that occur very often (e.g., function words expressing grammatical relationships) and many word types with a very low frequency (e.g., content words carrying most of the meaning of a sentence). Here, this approach is systematically and empirically studied by analyzing the lexical dynamics of the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel (consisting of approximately 365,000 articles and 237,000,000 words that were published between 1947 and 2017). We show that, analogous to most other measures in quantitative linguistics, similarity measures based on generalized entropies depend heavily on the sample size (i.e., text length). We argue that this makes it difficult to quantify lexical dynamics and language change and show that standard sampling approaches do not solve this problem. We discuss the consequences of the results for the statistical analysis of languages.
Quantitativ ausgerichtete empirische Linguistik hat in der Regel das Ziel, grose Mengen sprachlichen Materials auf einmal in den Blick zu nehmen und durch geeignete Analysemethoden sowohl neue Phanomene zu entdecken als auch bekannte Phanomene systematischer zu erforschen. Das Ziel unseres Beitrags ist es, anhand zweier exemplarischer Forschungsfragen methodisch zu reflektieren, wo der quantitativ-empirische Ansatz fur die Analyse lexikalischer Daten wirklich so funktioniert wie erhofft und wo vielleicht sogar systembedingte Grenzen liegen. Wir greifen zu diesem Zweck zwei sehr unterschiedliche Forschungsfragen heraus: zum einen die zeitnahe Analyse von produktiven Wortschatzwandelprozessen und zum anderen die Ausgleichsbeziehung von Wortstellungsvs. Wortstrukturregularitat in den Sprachen der Welt. Diese beiden Forschungsfragen liegen auf sehr unterschiedlichen Abstraktionsebenen. Wir hoffen aber, dass wir mit ihnen in groser Bandbreite zeigen konnen, auf welchen Ebenen die quantitative Analyse lexikalischer Daten stattfinden kann. Daruber hinaus mochten wir anhand dieser sehr unterschiedlichen Analysen die Moglichkeiten und Grenzen des quantitativen Ansatzes reflektieren und damit die Interpretationskraft der Verfahren verdeutlichen.
Wie nun bereits seit einigen Jahren üblich, wurde die IDS-Jahrestagung auch dieses Jahr wieder von einer Methodenmesse begleitet, auf der sich passend zum Tagungsthema anwendungsorientierte Projekte mit Bezug zur Lexikonforschung präsentierten. Die Bandbreite der dargebotenen Themen war sehr groß: innovative methodische Ansätze im Bereich der Translationswissenschaft, Tools zur Analyse und Beschreibung lexikalischer Muster oder zur Detektion von Neologismen, neue lexikografische Ressourcen bis hin zu Infrastrukturaktivitäten und einem Kooperationsprojekt zwischen Schüler/innen und Wissenschaftler/innen zur Wortschatzanalyse. Im Folgenden sollen die einzelnen Projekte, die sich auf der Messe präsentiert haben, auf der Basis der eingereichten Abstracts der Messeteilnehmer/innen kurz vorgestellt werden.
Many studies on dictionary use presuppose that users do indeed consult lexicographic resources. However, little is known about what users actually do when they try to solve language problems on their own. We present an observation study where learners of German were allowed to browse the web freely while correcting erroneous German sentences. In this paper, we are focusing on the multi-methodological approach of the study, especially the interplay between quantitative and qualitative approaches. In one example study, we will show how the analysis of verbal protocols, the correction task and the screen recordings can reveal the effects of intuition, language (learning) awareness, and determination on the accuracy of the corrections. In another example study, we will show how preconceived hypotheses about the problem at hand might hinder participants from arriving at the correct solution.
Dictionary usage research is a topic of increasing importance within the field of lexicography. At the beginning of the new millennium, the dictionary user was still relatively unknown. However, in the last ten years, more and more user studies have been published. Consequently, methods, data and the conclusions which can be drawn were successively refined. Also, new possibilities of web-based data collection, e.g., the analysis of log files, enriched this field of research. This contribution aims to describe the state of the art in dictionary usage research in the digital era. I begin by providing a short overview of methodological and terminological basics and then place a special focus on three different methods of collecting empirical data on dictionary use: online questionnaires, eye tracking and the analysis of log-files. All these methods are illustrated on user studies conducted at the Institute for the German Language in Mannheim.
Electronic corpora play an ever growing role in lexicography. On the one hand, new access to linguistic usage is made possible through the use of text corpora and intelligent corpus-based query tools; however, the final results are still interpreted and described by lexicographers. In this case corpora are used for data acquisition. On the other hand, there are also projects that provide purely automatically acquired data in the form of "dictionaries". Lexicographers play only a minor role here. This latter type of corpus use creates a completely new kind of electronic dictionary. This article addresses the questions as to what extent these dictionaries differ from lexicographic tradition and whether they must be considered in metalexicography. Starting from previously compiled electronic dictionary typologies, we try to supplement the formulation of lexicographic data as a distinguishing feature. Finally, based on the findings of the project elexiko (Institute for the German Language - IDS), we demonstrate that the distinction between electronic versus man-made lexicographic data is also relevant to lexicographical practice.
The development of user-adapted views of lexicographic data is frequently in demand by dictionary research on electronic reference works and hypertext information systems. In the printed dictionary it has been indispensable to develop a complete dictionary relative to a user group and using situations. In contrast, for any electronic presentation of lexicographic data there are possibilities to define user-specific views of an initially user-unspecific resource. However, research on the use of dictionaries in general, still has to answer several open questions as far as this subject is concerned. This paper will firstly provide an overview of the present state of research on dictionary use with respect to electronic lexicography. Subsequently, explanations of further prerequisites for a possible user-adapted access to data are followed, as exemplified by OWID, the Online Vocabulary Information System of the Institut für Deutsche Sprache. Finally, it will be outlined what results on the subject have been accomplished so far. Also the prospects of potential user-adapted presentations of lexicographic data will be highlighted.
Der Einsatz einer maßgeschneiderten, feingranularen XML-Modellierung im lexikografischen Prozess
(2011)
In diesem Papier wird kurz der Stand der lexikografischen Theorie und Praxis bezüglich des Themas „Illustrationen in der Lexikografie“ zusammengefasst, um daraus Vorschläge für den Umgang mit Illustrationen in elexiko abzuleiten. Dazu wird zunächst Grundsätzliches zum Thema referiert, um dann Arten von Illustrationen vorzustellen, wie sie in der lexikografischen Theorie unterschie-den werden. Anhand von Beispielen wird dabei die lexikografische Praxis aus dem Bereich der Printlexikografie illustriert. Die letzten beiden Abschnitte beschäftigen sich mit den Möglichkeiten der Illustrierung für elexiko, wobei unterschieden wird in die Illustrierung des Demonstrationswortschatzes und in weitere Perspektiven für elexiko.
Der Beitrag behandelt konzeptionelle und methodische Fragen aus einem Projekt, in dem eine neue Referenzausgabe des Thomas Mannschen Gesamtwerks für die Publikation in zwei Medien aufbereitet wird: als Buch und als elektronische Ausgabe. Die Basis dafür bildet ein Informationspool, in dem die Texte SGML/XML-basiert vorgehalten und durch eine Topic Map verknüpft werden. Der Beitrag skizziert die Architektur des Systems sowie die dahinter stehenden technischen und konzeptionellen Überlegungen. Es wird gezeigt, wie gerade die elektronische Version neue Wege beschreitet, damit ein Arbeitswerkzeug für Literaturwissenschaftler entsteht, das völlig neuartige Zugriffsmöglichkeiten auf das Werk Thomas Manns bietet.
Das elexiko-Portal: Ein neuer Zugang zu lexikografischen Arbeiten am Institut für Deutsche Sprache
(2007)
Das elexiko-Portal soll verschiedene lexikografische Projekte des IDS in einem Verbund zusammenführen und - soweit das die Inhalte zulassen - gemeinsame Recherchemöglichkeiten über verschiedene lexikografische Produkte hinweg bieten. In diesem Aufsatz geht es v. a. darum zu zeigen, wie die XML-basierte Modellierung für das Portal aufgebaut ist, um zum einen die Basis für diese flexiblen Zugriffsstrukturen zu legen und zum anderen der Verschiedenheit der beteiligten Projekte Rechnung zu tragen. Gleichzeitig werden Perspektiven für eine flexiblere Darstellung der Daten und für die zukünftige Weiterentwicklung von Recherchemöglichkeiten aufgezeigt.
Introduction
(2015)
In dem Beitrag präsentieren und diskutieren die Autoren zunächst einige Untersuchungen aus der Benutzungsforschung zu elektronischen Wörterbüchern, die sich mit der nutzerseitigen Beurteilung des Mehrwerts multimedialer und benutzeradaptiver Elemente befassen (Kap. 1. In einem zweiten Teil versuchen sie, ausgehend von den Stärken und Schwächen vorhandener Ansätze in diesem Bereich, Antworten auf die Frage zu finden, welche Anforderungen an Visualisierungstechniken und ‑strategien in elektronischen Wörterbüchern gestellt werden müssen, um einen solchen Mehrwert zu erhalten (Kap. 2). Abschließend stellen sie als praktisches Beispiel für eine mögliche Umsetzung solcher Anforderungen den Prototyp einer Software zur interaktiven Erkundung von Wortbildungsangaben im Wörterbuch vor.
Der Artikel stellt die Projekte vor, die sich im Rahmen der Projektmesse zur „Elektronischen Lexikografie“ präsentiert haben. Diese Messe wurde begleitend zur 46. Jahrestagung des Instituts für Deutsche Sprache veranstaltet. Es wird in diesem Beitrag auf der Basis der Messepräsentationen dargelegt, inwiefern Entwicklungen der Korpuslexikografie und der Internetlexikografie die lexikografische Erfassung syntagmatischer Aspekte des deutschen Wortschatzes befördern und welche lexikografischen Internetressourcen dazu verfügbar sind.
This article presents empirical findings about what criteria make for a good online dictionary, using data on expectations and demands collected in an online questionnaire (N~684), complemented by additional results from a second questionnaire (N-390) which looked more closely at whether respondents had differentiated views on individual aspects of the criteria rated in the first study. Our results show that the classical criteria of reference books (such as reliability and clarity) were rated highest by our participants, whereas the unique characteristics of online dictionaries (such as multimedia and adaptability) were rated and ranked as (partly) unimportant. To verify whether or not the poor ratings of these innovative features were a result of the fact that our subjects are unfamiliar with online dictionaries incorporating such features, we incorporated an experiment into the second study. Our results revealed a learning effect: participants in the learning-effect condition, i.e. respondents who were first presented with examples of possible innovative features of online dictionaries, judged adaptability and multimedia to be more useful than participants who were not given that information. Thus, our data point to the conclusion that developing innovative features is worthwhile but that it should be borne in mind that users can only be persuaded of their benefits gradually. In addition, we present data about questions relating to the design of online dictionaries.
In this paper, the authors use the 2012 log files of two German online dictionaries (Digital Dictionary of the German Language and the German Version of Wiktionary) and the 100,000 most frequent words in the Mannheim German Reference Corpus from 2009 to answer the question of whether dictionary users really do look up frequent words, first asked by de Schryver et al. (2006). By using an approach to the comparison of log files and corpus data which is completely different from that of the aforementioned authors, we provide empirical evidence that indicates - contrary to the results of de Schryver et al. and Verlinde/Binon (2010) - that the corpus frequency of a word can indeed be an important factor in determining what online dictionary users look up. Finally, we incorporate word class Information readily available in Wiktionary into our analysis to improve our results considerably.
The main aim of the study presented in this chapter was to try out eyetracking as form to collect data about dictionary use as it is – for research into dictionary use – a new and not widely used technology. As the topic of research, we decided to evaluate the new web design of the IDS dictionary portal OWID. In the mid of 2011 where the study was conducted, the relaunch of the web design was internally finished but externally not released yet. In this regard, it was a good time to see whether users get along well with the new design decisions. 38 persons participated in our study, all of them students aged 20-30 years. Besides the results the chapter also includes critical comments on methodological aspects of our study.
Questions of design
(2014)
All lexicographers working on online dictionary projects that do not wish to use an established form of design for their online dictionary, or simply have new kinds of lexicographic data to present, face the problem of what kind of arrangement is best suited for the intended users of the dictionary. In this chapter, we present data about questions relating to the design of online dictionaries. This will provide projects that use these or similar ways of presenting their lexicographic data with valuable information about how potential dictionary users assess and evaluate them. In addition, the answers to corresponding open-ended questions show, detached from concrete design models, which criteria potential users value in a good online representation. Clarity and an uncluttered look seem to dominate in many answers, as well as the possibility of customization, if the latter is not connected with a too complex usability model.
This chapter presents empirical findings on the question which criteria are making a good online dictionary using data on expectations and demands collected in the first study (N=684), completed with additional results from the second study (N=390) which examined more closely whether the respondents had differentiated views on individual aspects of the criteria rated in the first study. Our results show that the classical criteria of reference books (e.g. reliability, clarity) were rated highest by our participants, whereas the unique characteristics of online dictionaries (e.g. multimedia, adaptability) were rated and ranked as (partly) unimportant. To verify whether or not the poor rating of these innovative features was a result of the fact that the subjects are not used to online dictionaries incorporating those features, we integrated an experiment into the second study. Our results revealed a learning effect: Participants in the learning-effect condition, i. e. respondents who were first presented with examples of possible innovative features of online dictionaries,judged adaptability and multimedia to be more useful than participants who did not have this information. Thus, our data point to the conclusion that developing innovative features is worthwhile but that it is necessary to be aware of the fact that users can only be convinced of its benefits gradually.
The first international study (N=684) we conducted within our research project on online dictionary use included very general questions on that topic. In this chapter, we present the corresponding results on questions like the use of both printed and online dictionaries as well as on the types of dictionaries used, devices used to access online dictionaries and some information regarding the willingness to pay for premium content. The data collected by us, show that our respondents both use printed and online dictionaries and, according to their self-report, many different kinds of dictionaries. In this context, our results revealed some clear cultural differences: in German-speaking areas spelling dictionaries are more common than in other linguistic areas, where thesauruses are widespread. Only a minority of our respondents is willing to pay for premium content, but most of the respondents are prepared to accept advertising. Our results also demonstrate that our respondents mainly tend to use dictionaries on big-screen devices, e.g. desktop computers or laptops.
To design effective electronic dictionaries, reliable empirical information on how dictionaries are actually being used is of great value for lexicographers. To my knowledge, no existing empirical research addresses the context of dictionary use, or, in other words, the extra-lexicographic situations in which a dictionary consultation is embedded. This is mainly due to the fact that data about these contexts are difficult to obtain. To take a first step in closing this research gap, we incorporated an open-ended question (“In which contexts or situations would you use a dictionary?”) into our first online survey (N = 684). Instead of presenting well-known facts about standardized types of usage situation, this chapter will focus on the more offbeat circumstances of dictionary use and aims of users, as they are reflected in the responses. Overall, my results indicate that there is a community whose work is closely linked with dictionaries. Dictionaries are also seen as a linguistic treasure trove for games or crossword puzzles, and as a standard which can be referred to as an authority. While it is important to emphasize that my results are only preliminary, they do indicate the potential of empirical research in this area.