HOW TO create initial .fld file

Modify the example file in lkb/lexdb/example.fld to fit your needs. A sample file is shown below:

type TEXT
orthography TEXT
keyrel TEXT
altkey TEXT
alt2key TEXT
keytag TEXT
altkeytag TEXT
compkey TEXT
ocompkey TEXT
pronunciation TEXT
complete TEXT
semclasses TEXT
preferences TEXT
classifier TEXT
selectrest TEXT
jlink TEXT
comments TEXT
exemplars TEXT
usages TEXT
lang TEXT
country TEXT
dialect TEXT
domains TEXT
genres TEXT
register TEXT
confidence real DEFAULT 1
source TEXT

Note: This text is injected verbatim inside a CREATE TABLE statement as part of the initialization script. If the script spits out an error you may need to double quote certain field names (for example, case must be quoted when used as a field name: “case”).

UNDERSTANDING the FLD table

This table provides field definitions for the rev table.

The rev table is built by taking the following built-in field definitions

        name TEXT NOT NULL,
        userid TEXT DEFAULT user NOT NULL,
        modstamp TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOT NULL,
        dead INTEGER DEFAULT 'f' NOT NULL

and defining further fields using the contents of the .fld file provided to the install-lexdb initialization script. We store these user-defined field definitinos in the table fld for later reference. [NOTE: since field order in rev is critical, whilst entries in the fld table are conceptually unordered, this approach is not strictly correct. FIX ME]

HOW TO create initial .dfn file

Modify the example file in lkb/lexdb/example.dfn to fit your needs.

UNDERSTANDING the DFN table

Lexical entries in the database are stored as a collection of field values. These field values must be mapped to AVMs before use in a processing environment. We achieve this by providing a mapping from fields to TDL structure, allowing the existing machinery (which works on the TDL notation) to take over.

For example, we map the following entry from the database

           NAME: bombard_v1                                         
         USERID: danf
       MODSTAMP: 2003-11-01 00:00:00+00
           DEAD: f                                                  
           TYPE: v_np_trans_le                                      
    ORTHOGRAPHY: bombard                                            
         KEYREL: "_bombard_v_rel"                                   
         ALTKEY:                                                    
        ALT2KEY:                                                    
         KEYTAG:                                                    
      ALTKEYTAG:                                                    
        COMPKEY:                                                    
       OCOMPKEY:                                                    
  PRONUNCIATION: con                                                
       COMPLETE:                                                    
     SEMCLASSES:                                                    
    PREFERENCES:                                                    
     CLASSIFIER:                                                    
     SELECTREST:                                                    
          JLINK:                                                    
       COMMENTS:                                                    
      EXEMPLARS:                                                    
         USAGES:                                                    
           LANG: EN                                                 
        COUNTRY: US                                                 
        DIALECT:                                                    
        DOMAINS:                                                    
         GENRES:                                                    
       REGISTER:                                                    
     CONFIDENCE: 1                                                  
         SOURCE: LinGO                                              

to the following TDL entry

bombard_v1 := v_np_trans_le &
 [ STEM < "bombard" >,
   SYNSEM [ LKEYS.KEYREL.PRED "_bombard_v_rel",
            PHON.ONSET con ] ].

by means of the following field mappings:

 mode | slot  |     field     |              path              |    type
------+-------+---------------+--------------------------------+-------------
 erg  | id    | name          |                                | symbol
 erg  | orth  | orthography   |                                | string-list
 erg  | unifs | alt2key       | (synsem lkeys alt2keyrel pred) | mixed
 erg  | unifs | altkey        | (synsem lkeys altkeyrel pred)  | mixed
 erg  | unifs | altkeytag     | (synsem lkeys altkeyrel carg)  | string
 erg  | unifs | compkey       | (synsem lkeys --compkey)       | symbol
 erg  | unifs | keyrel        | (synsem lkeys keyrel pred)     | mixed
 erg  | unifs | keytag        | (synsem lkeys keyrel carg)     | string
 erg  | unifs | ocompkey      | (synsem lkeys --ocompkey)      | symbol
 erg  | unifs | orthography   | (stem)                         | string-fs
 erg  | unifs | pronunciation | (synsem phon onset)            | symbol
 erg  | unifs | type          | nil                            | symbol

The mode should be set to the name of the lexical database in use. slot takes values id, orth, and unifs (these relate to internal LKB structures). The id and orth lines above should not be changed. Each unifs line define a mapping to a certain TDL substructure. These mappings are determined by the remaining fields: field specifies the database field involved in the mapping; path defines the TDL path set by the mapping; type determines the mapping from database field value to TDL substructure.

Possible values of type:

  • sym: eg. sym ’value’ -> VALUE
  • str: eg. str ’“value”‘ -> ”value”
  • mixed: eg. mixed ’“value”‘ -> ”value”; mixed ’value’ -> VALUE
  • str-rawlst: str-rawlst ’one two’ -> (“one” ”two”)
  • str-lst:
      str-lst 'one two' ->

[ FIRST "one",
  REST.FIRST "two",
  REST.REST *NULL* ]
  • for which the TDL shorthand is < ”one”, ”two” >
  • str-dlst:
      str-dlst 'one two' ->
[ LIST.FIRST "one",
  LIST.REST.FIRST "two",
  LIST.REST.REST #1,
  LAST #1 ]
  • for which the TDL shorthand is <! ”one”, ”two” !>
  • lst:
      (lst NODE1 NODE2) 'one * "two"' ->

[ FIRST.NODE1.NODE2 ONE,
  REST.FIRST.NODE1.NODE2 *TOP*,
  REST.REST.FIRST.NODE1.NODE2 "two",
  REST.REST.REST *NULL* ]
  • for which the TDL shorthand is < [NODE1.NODE2 ONE], [], [NODE1.NODE2 ”two”] >
  • dlst:
      (lst NODE1 NODE2) 'one * "two"' ->

[ LIST.FIRST.NODE1.NODE2 ONE,
  LIST.REST.FIRST.NODE1.NODE2 *TOP*,
  LIST.REST.REST.FIRST.NODE1.NODE2 "two",
  LIST.REST.REST.REST #1,
  LAST #1 ]
  • for which the TDL shorthand is <! [NODE1.NODE2 ONE], [NODE1.NODE2 TWO] !>
  • lst-t: as lst, but format is (lst-t TOP-MARKER PATH) where (lst-t ’* PATH) is equivalent to (lst PATH)
  • dlst-t: as dlst, but format is (dlst-t TOP-MARKER PATH) where (dlst-t ’* PATH) is equivalent to (dlst PATH)

(The following type names are obsolete: symbol, string, string-list, string-fs, string-diff-fs, mixed-fs, mixed-diff-fs.)

Last update: 2005-11-16 by BenjaminWaldron [edit]