MHDBDB-Help: Wordindex

Content Wordindex Features The Most Important Search Symbols

Wordindex Features

1. You can search for any variant of a word and still retrieve the appropriate lemma, to which the variant has been assigned. A variant may also be assigned to more than one lemma. - Example: Entry in search window: „kleit“ results in the retrieval of the following lemmas: klagen, kleiden, kleit, which means, the form „kleit“ may be a variant of each of the given lemmas. By clicking on one of the lemmas you will arrive at the respective article.

2. The wordindex article on a given lemma does not only list all assigned variants and their respective grammatical forms in the form of grammar tags (example: NOM = Noun), but also lists all compound words formed with the lemma that have been integrated with the wordindex on the basis of the lemmatized texts. By clicking on one of the compound words you will arrive at the respective article of the compound.

3. Contrary to Lexer’s standard MHG wordindex the MHDBDB- wordindex does not render meanings of a lemma in form of NHG translations. Instead, each meaning is defined by one or more conceptual categories. Conceptual categories are formally represented in the MHDBDB system through numerical addresses (codes), which must be used when searching for conceptual categories.

   Example:
   

   kleit =	1. Kleidung/Allgemeines	2111301	(NHG Kleidungsstück (NE clothing))
   	2. Bäume	1302	(NHG Belaubung (NE foliage))
   	3. Kleidung/Allgemeines	2111301
   	Hof / Hofhaltung / Allgemeines	233101	(NHG zeremonielle Bekleidung(NE ceremonial dress))

   This means the lemma kleit has three different meanings, of which the third consists of more than one conceptual category.

   Please, familiarize yourself with the conceptual system using the Browse categories function, which you will fin on the Main Menu page or on the wordindex page on the left below the image. By choosing Browse categories you can scan the category system by clicking on the highlighted categories one at a time. This will take you to the respective sub-categories. You can also search the wordindex using the search form at the top of the page. If you enter, for instance, „kleid“, you will retrieve all categories that contain the string …kleid… in their descriptor terms. Therefore you may only enter a NHG word or a character string in the search window. The category(ies), which you want to select for your search, should be marked by clicking the little square box to its/their left. This will enter the category(ies) in a list, which can be transferred directly to the search window of either the wordindex or the text analysis by clicking on the respective option.

4. The wordindex may be searched for such conceptual categories. These must be represented by their numerical code in the respective search window (see above).
   Example: Kleidung / Allgemeines = 2111301.
   If you enter this numerical address 2111301 in the search window of the wordindex, you will retrieve the entire semantic field of words that are associated with KLEIDUNG (NE clothing) in form of a list of lemmas. By clicking on an individual lemma you will arrive at its respective article.

5. Contrary to a standard wordindex, you can retrieve the total frequency of occurrence of each lemma and of each individual variant in the entire text corpus by clicking on the option Freq.. For instance, the frequency for the variant cleider = 148 and for kleider = 304. Please, remember that you will only arrive at actual text references if you repeat your search via the module Text analysis with text references.

The Most Important Search Symbols

$ = „character string“

this symbol marks the following characters as a string of characters, not a word. Usually, this symbol should be used in conjunction with a joker or wild card.

* = „Joker“ or „wild card“

stands for any number of characters.

Example:
$*kleid* searches for the character string „kleid“, preceded and followed by any number of characters.

& = „and, at the same time“

The search terms are linked and each term must equally be met by each retrieved item.

Examples:
2111301 & 233101 retrieves all lemmas and their variants whose meaning consists of both categories. Result: hovekleit (NE courtly dress).
<NAM> & <ADJ> arrives at all lemmas which contain at least one variant that is both a name and an adjective. Please, remember that grammar tags must always be included within < >, if used as search terms.
<NAM>&a* retrieves all names that start with the letter ‚a’.

| = „or“

searches for all words that meet either one or the other search term.

Example:
2111301 | 233101 retrieves all lemmas that either meet the category „Kleidung / Allgemeines“ or the category „Hof / Hofhaltung / Allgemeines“.

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