LexMeta
New: LexMeta presentation slides, Euralex 2022 conference, 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 | |||||
| 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.