LexMeta

• New 2022: LexMeta presentation slides, Euralex 2022 conference, available here.
• New 2022: LexMeta paper, Euralex 2022 conference, available here.
• New 2022: LexMeta presentation, DARIAH WG Bibliodata workshop, available here.
• New 2023: LexMeta presentation, W3C Ontolex community day @ LDK2023, available here.

LexMeta, a metadata model for lexical resources

LexMeta follows the entity hierarchy for the representation of artistic or creative endavour proposed in the FRBR ontology, widely used in libraries, which we partially map to the two-level hierarchy for the representation of Lexical-Conceptual Resource (LCR) metadata proposed in Metashare, from where we inherit the terminology, and the definitions. These hierarchy levels, expressed as classes, are the following:

FRBR class	Metashare class	LexMeta class	Definition
frbr:Work	dcat:DatasetSeries (discussion ongoing)	Lexicographic work (Q41)	FRBR: An abstract notion of a creation; used to group different expressions (editions, versions) of the same work, and address statements that apply on work level.
frbr:Expression	ms:LexicalConceptualResource	LCR (Q4)	MetaShare: A resource organised on the basis of lexical or conceptual entries (lexical items, terms, concepts, etc.) with their supplementary information (e.g., grammatical, semantic, statistical information, etc.)
frbr:Manifestation	ms:DatasetDistribution	LCR Distribution (Q24)	MetaShare: Any form with which a dataset is distributed, such as a downloadable form in a specific format (e.g., spreadsheet, plain text, etc.) or an API with which it can be accessed

The entity Schemata for LexMeta LCR and LCR Distributions are aligned to those of the corresponding FRBR and Metashare classes (in other words, the LexMeta class is a subclass of both). This has several implications:

• Properties that describe LCR content are attached to items of class LCR (Q4).
• Properties that describe the LCR distribution, e.g. a physical dictionay in book form, or an electronic dictionary in a dictionary web portal or as downloadable dataset, are attached to LCR Distribution (LexBib Q24) items.
• LCR Distribution (Q24) items, when they have publication metadata as books have, are LexBib Zotero items, i.e. in LexBib wikibase, members of class BibItem (Q3). This applies mainly to book publications, and distributions on CD-ROM. But also online electronic dictionaries are collected in library information systems and can have publication metadata, and can exist as LexBib Zotero items.
• A dictionary with the same contents in printed form, on CD-ROM, available in a mobile app, or downloadable in different serialization formats (XML, JSON, etc.) will be represented as the same LCR (Q4) with different distributions (Q24).
• Different versions, editions, conversions, summaries, etc., of a lexicographic work will be represented as different LCR (Q4) items, being able to describe relations between these using properties defined in Metashare.

Note: This is ongoing work.

Description of lexicographical works

LexMeta provides this class for lexicographic work records in the catalogue, in parallel to what libraries do (example from DNB). Such records are used for grouping LCR as different expressions of the same work. Identifying and provenance metadata can be attached to work items. See an example record.

LexBib property	Property label	Range or datatype	Wikidata equiv.	LexMeta OWL equiv.	Definition
Properties pointing to ontology items
P118	has realisation	LCR (Q4)		frbr:realization	The value of this property is an expression that is an intellectual or artistic realization of a work.
Identification
P2	wikidata entity	external ID		lexmeta:wikibaseEntity
P6	title	monolingualtext	wd:P1476	dct:title

Description of lexical-conceptual resources (LCR), such as dictionaries

On the level of class frbr:Expression, libraries don't typically collect item records (they are focused on publication metadata, i.e. in LexMeta terms, distribution level). Expression is the level where metadata describing a resource's content corresponds to. For LCR records, LexMeta provides properties for classifying dictionaries and other lexical resources. The properties and their datatype or range of items that is accepted as object), are defined as listed in the following table.

Properties describing dictionary structure and type have certain concept schemes as range. See these schemes, together with their top concepts (which may relate to other terms as narrower concepts) using this Query.

LexBib property	Property label	Range or datatype	LexMeta OWL equiv.	Definition text
Provenance & Identification
P154	LCR creator	Agent (Q14)	ms:resourceCreator	The person/organization responsible for providing, curating, maintaining and making available (publishing) the resource
P155	IPR holder	Agent (Q14)	ms:iprHolder	A person or an organization who holds the full Intellectual Property Rights (Copyright, trademark, etc.) that subsist in the resource [...]
P156	LCR name	monolingualtext	ms:resourceName	Introduces a human-readable name or title by which the resource is known
P97	short title	string	ms:resourceShortName	Introduces a short form (e.g., abbreviation, acronym, etc.) used to refer to a language resource
P15	publication date	time object	ms:publicationDate	Specifies the date when a language resource has been made available to the public
P157	LCR provider	Agent (Q14)	ms:resourceProvider	Links to a resource for which the person/organization is responsible of providing, curating and maintaining
P55	has distribution	LCR Distribution (Q24)	ms:distribution	Links a language resource to the various forms with which it is distributed
Dictionary Sructure and Type (point to terms of a certain concept scheme)
P151	lemma type	Lemma Type (Q50)	lexmeta:lemmaType	Specifies the types of headwords included in a dictionary (e.g., whether it includes single- or multi-word units, abbreviations, neologisms, etc.)
P115	linguality type	Linguality Type (Q37)	ms:lingualityType	Indicates whether the resource includes one, two or more languages
P119	lexicographical process type	Lexicographical Process Type (Q42)	lexmeta:lexicographicalProcessType	Provides information on how the dictionary was created (e.g., in a collaborative mode, involving academic lexicographers vs. citizens, etc.)
P90	dictionary scope type	Dictionary Scope (Q35)	lexmeta:dictionaryScope	Classifies the dictionary in terms of its contents and intended use, based mainly on the classification proposed by Engelberg & Storrer (Typologie von Internetwörterbüchern und -portalen, 2016)
P120	dictionary function type	Dictionary Function Type (Q44)	lexmeta:dictionaryFunctionType	Classifies the dictionary in terms of its intended function (e.g., text translation, vocabulary learning) according to the Theory of Lexicographical Functions
P121	dictionary access type	Access Structure Type (Q39)	lexmeta:dictionaryAccessType	Classifies the dictionary based on the approach (onomasiological vs. semasiological) adopted for the organization of the lexical entries
P152	dictionary text part	Dictionary Text Part (Q52)	lexmeta:dictionaryTextPart	Specifies text parts present in the dictionary text (such as front or back matters, and entry types)
P127	microstructure feature	Microstructure Feature (Q51)	ms:linguisticInformation	Provides a more detailed account of the linguistic information contained in the lexical/conceptual resource, as well as on microstructural layout features
Dictionary Sructure and Type (point to LexBib entity)
P150	source language	Language (Q8)	lexmeta:sourceLanguage	Specifies the language a bilingual or multilingual lexical resource provides equivalents for
P134	target language	Language (Q8)	lexmeta:targetLangue	Specifies a language in which a bilingual or multilingual lexical resource provides equivalents
P175	pivot language	Language (Q8)	lexmeta:pivotLangue	Specifies a language used as pivot or bridge in translation between other languages
P56	object language	Language (Q8)	ms:language	Specifies a language that is described in a lexical resource
P122	metalanguage	Language (Q8)	ms:metalanguage	Specifies the language that is used as support for the resource (e.g., English for a grammar of French described in English or for a French dictionary with English definitions)
Dictionary Sructure and Type (point to data object)
P161	number of entries	string
Relations to other LCR (from MetaShare, point to LexBib entity)
P135	replaces LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:replaces	Links to LR B that is an older version of LR A (the one being described) and has been replaced by it
P133	is version of LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isVersionOf	Links to LR B that is a version (corrected, annotated, enriched, processed, etc.) of LR A (the one being described)
P125	is part of LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isPartOf	Links to LR B which contains LR A (the one being described), e.g., a bilingual corpus that includes a monolingual corpus
P136	is similar to LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isSimilarTo	Links to LR B that bears resemblances to LR A (the one being described), e.g., they have been built with the same theoretical principles or are the same with different formats or processed at the same level with different tools
P137	is related to LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isRelatedToLR	Links to a language resource that holds a relation with the entity being described (without further specification of the relation type)
P138	is exact match with LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isExactMatchWith	Links to LR B that has the same contents with LR A; they may have different names or the same name and be stored on different locations
P139	is part with LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isPartWith	Links to LR B that together with LR A (the one being described) are parts of LR C
P140	is continuation of LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isContinuationOf	Links to LR B that forms the basis of LR A (the one being described) upon which it has continued to extend / enrich
P141	is converted version of LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isConvertedVersionOf	Links to LR B that has been the outcome of a conversion procedure from LR A (the one being described), e.g., a PDF to text conversion
P179	has converted version	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:hasConvertedVersion	Links to LR B that has been used for creating LR A (the one being described) through a conversion procedure, e.g., a PDF to text conversion
P142	has original source LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:hasOriginalSource	Links a language resource to the original source that has been used for its creation, where it's derived or elicited from
P143	has LCR as part	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:hasPart	Links to LR B which is contained in LR A (the one being described), e.g., a monolingual corpus part of a bilingual corpus
P144	has LCR as version	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:hasVersion	Links to LR B that is a version of LR A (the one being described)
P145	is combined with LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isCombinedWith	Links to a LR B that has been used together with LR A (the one being described) to create LR C, e.g., two monolingual wordnets/corpora aligned to produce a bilingual resource
P63	is continued by LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isContinuedBy	Links to a LR B that extends / continues / enriches LR A (the one being described)
P124	is replaced with LCR	Lexical Conceptual Resource (Q4)	ms:isReplacedWith	Links to LR B that is a newer version of LR A (the one being described) and replaces it

Description of LCR distributions, such as dictionaries distributed in printed or electronic form

Manuscript, printed, and offline and online electronic dictionary distributions as publications are represented in LexBib using the same set of properties as for metadata of bibliographical items (Q3) in general, including metalexicographical article metadata. Dictionary distributions can also be listed in LexBib Zotero. One property is specific to to LCR distributions (Q24): distribution type (P91), which takes values from the LCR Distribution Type concept scheme (Q43).

Most publication metadata properties are described in the BIBO ontology (RDF), which re-uses Dublin Core Terms.

LexBib property	Property label	Range or datatype	Wikidata equiv.	LexMeta OWL equiv.	Definition
Properties specific to LCR distributions (Q24)
P91	distribution type	LCR Distribution Type (Q43)		ms:distributionForm
Properties specific to bibliographical items (Q3) in general (identifiers)
P2	wikidata entity	external ID
P16	LexBib Zotero item	external ID
P17	DOI	external ID	wd:P356	bibo:doi
P18	ISBN-13	external ID	wd:P212	bibo:isbn13
P19	ISBN-10	external ID	wd:P957	bibo:isbn10
P20	ISSN	external ID	wd:P236	bibo:issn
Properties specific to bibliographical items (Q3) in general (point to URL)
P44	official website	url	wd:P856	foaf:homepage
P112	access location	url		ms:accessLocation
P113	download location	url	wd:P953	ms:downloadLocation
Properties specific to bibliographical items (Q3) in general (point to ontology items)
P12	author	Agent (Q14)	wd:P50	bibo:authorList
P13	editor	Person (Q5)	wd:P98	bibo:editorList
P35	publisher	Agent (Q14)	wd:P123	dcterms:publisher
P10	publication place	Place (Q9)	wd:P291	frbrer:P3057
P36	event	Event (Q6)	wd:P5072	bibo:presentedAt
P9	containing BibCollection	BibCollection (Q12)	wd:P361	dct:isPartOf
P11	publication language	Language (Q8)	wd:P407	dct:language
P27	subject	Term (Q7)	wd:P921	dct:subject
P26	is reviewed in	Review Article (Q15)		schema:review
P25	is review of	BibItem (Q3)	wd:P6977	bibo:reviewOf
P147	cites	BibItem (Q3)	wd:P2860	bibo:cites
Properties specific to bibliographical items (Q3) in general (other data objects)
P6	title	monolingualtext	wd:P1476	dct:title
P15	publication date	time object	wd:P577	dct:date
P22	volume	string	wd:P478	bibo:volume
P23	issue	string	wd:P433	bibo:issue
P24	page(s)	string	wd:P304	bibo:pages
P64	edition number	string	wd:P393	bibo:edition
P97	short title	string

Database Queries

• List of LexBib entities and LexMeta RDF equivalents: Query.
• Graph representation of test items (Lexicographic Work, LCR, and LCR distributions): Query.

New: LexMeta OWL

LexMeta_OWL is the specification of LexMeta in OWL format. LexMeta OWL represents an application profile of the MetaShare ontology, extended with some additional properties and classes, and concept schemes that function as ranges of values for certain properties, in parallel to the above described Wikibase implementation.

Related Documents

• The development of LexMeta was started through a Virtual Mobility Action in the framework of NexusLinguarum. See the final report and the final short report.
• See which Dictionaries are already contained in LexBib.