JP2819766B2 - Foreign language electronic dictionary search method - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary search method, and more particularly to a foreign language electronic dictionary search method for searching a foreign word based on a specific attribute of the word. .

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the remarkable and widespread progress of internationalization, opportunities for using foreign languages have been increasing more and more, and the availability of foreign language dictionaries that are the basis of foreign language learning tends to be reviewed.

As a typical example of the diversification of the dictionary utilization, so-called electronic dictionaries have been in the spotlight.

Electronic dictionaries have spread word processors as office work means including document creation means in homes and offices.
Furthermore, it has been developed and improved in response to changes in the office processing environment represented by the spread of workstations in offices and the like.

However, most of the electronic dictionaries that are currently in practical use do not fall outside the range of simply converting a booklet-type dictionary into a computerized form, and items such as headwords, such as meaning, pronunciation, part of speech, and examples, are used unilaterally. The utility of computerization only by searching for information (for example, immediate accessibility corresponding to multiple search keys, which is one characteristic of electronic file search)
Is not fully utilized.

Also, with regard to the expression of the search key, the conventional electronic dictionary has a low degree of freedom. For example, most English-Japanese dictionaries cannot be searched without inputting the English spelling of the headword itself.

As a countermeasure, JP-A-57-161970 and JP-A-61-100864 have made it possible to search for attributes other than headwords (Katakana notation and alphabetical notation) as a search key and to provide a degree of freedom in searching. A dictionary search device disclosed in a gazette or the like is known.

The above technique is to manually create and register in advance a word record in which katakana or alphabetical phonetic symbols of foreign words are associated with the words,
The search is possible without knowing the spelling of the foreign language.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the prior art disclosed in the above publication, a desired foreign language can be searched for using a phonetic symbol as a search key without knowing the spelling of the foreign language. There is a problem that it is impossible to search without knowing the notation, and it is not realistic to register phonetic notation manually for all words.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to search a foreign language word from a Japanese semantic description of a foreign language-Japanese dictionary, and to improve the usability of the foreign language dictionary.

[Means for solving the problem]

The above object is to provide a storage means for storing a dictionary database, a foreign language which is a headword from a foreign language-Japanese dictionary, and a headword extracted from a Japanese meaning notation part for a foreign language of the foreign language-Japanese dictionary. Registration means for automatically generating a search key composed of Japanese corresponding to the above and registering it in the storage means as a dictionary database together with the word data (word record) of the foreign language-Japanese dictionary; This is achieved by providing search execution means for searching a desired word record from a database stored in the storage means based on the key.

[Action]

The foreign language-Japanese dictionary is automatically used as the search key from the existing Japanese-Japanese dictionary for the foreign language of the foreign language-Japanese dictionary, that is, the Japanese language corresponding to the headword extracted mechanically is used as the search key. The word dictionary is searched from the Japanese meaning.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an English-Japanese dictionary search system, wherein 1 is character input means, 2 is registration means, 3 is storage means, 4 is a user interface, and 5 is a user interface. Is a search execution means.

The character input means 1 is composed of an original dictionary 11 and a character input unit 12 which convert a normal (existing) English-Japanese dictionary into a form that can be processed by a computer and store it in a computer-readable medium such as a magnetic tape. The stored contents of the English-Japanese dictionary are read out and supplied to the registration means 2 as a data stream ST for each word.

The registration means 2 stores the dictionary 1 supplied from the character input means 1.
The data stream ST for each word is received and structurally decomposed to generate a record that can be processed by a computer.

The format of one word supplied from the character input unit 1 to the registration unit 2 is, for example, “headword importance symbol [pronunciation symbol] part of speech 1 Japanese meaning of part of speech 1 idiom Phrase grammar ... part of speech n part of speech n
The meaning of the Japanese idiom phrase idiom .... newline symbol ". In this case, the contents of the original dictionary are directly used as a data stream.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a word record generated by decomposing a data stream ST (hereinafter simply referred to as a stream ST) into respective items, ie, attributes, by a registration means 2 and generating a computer-processable form. The importance of the stream ST from the input means 1 with respect to the record 21 of each item and the word "list" as an example of a headword (for example, words to be learned in high school are *, words to be learned in junior high are **) are decomposed into symbols, pronunciation [list], and part-of-speech items. In the case of part-of-speech items, assuming that there are nouns and transitive verbs (actually also intransitive verbs), part of speech 1 Is decomposed into a tree structure composed of a record 22-1 of a part of speech and a record 22-2 of a part of speech 2 whose part of speech is a transitive verb.

The record 22-1 of the part-of-speech 1 includes a part-of-speech item “noun”, its Japanese meaning item “list”, and an example item “Her name”.
is ‥ ”, the idiom item“ make a list of ‥ ”, and the record 22-2 of the part of speech 2 is the part of speech item“ transitive verb ”, the meaning item“ table (to) ”, the example item, ‥分解 is taken out, and the items having the meaning are taken out, registered in the search key storage area (key) 31 of the storage means 3 in FIG. 1 as a search key, and the record 21 (22-
.. Are registered in the word record storage area (data) of the storage means 3. A database is constructed by performing the same processing for all headwords (words) in the original dictionary.

Generally, the part registered as "meaning" in the dictionary is a simple description, and verbs and adjectives are used as search keys because their inflected forms are registered as final forms. However, since the rules of description in electronic dictionaries are fixed, the morphological analysis method used in natural language processing (a sentence composition analysis method that breaks down sentences into words that constitute sentences and verbs and adjectives are final forms) ) Can be easily and automatically, that is, mechanically extracted, from the "meaning" item of the word.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, "one" is first extracted from the headword [a] as its meaning, registered in the search key storage area (key) 31, and used as a search key. a) is registered in the word record storage area (data) 34. This process is sequentially repeated for all words (entry words) stored in the original dictionary 11. At this time, when there are a plurality of meanings of the word as in the example described with reference to FIG. 2, it is needless to say that the meaning can be searched from a plurality of search keys. For example, [love] in the headword area of the word record storage area (data) 34 in FIG. 1 has two meanings, “love” of a part of speech and “love” of a verb. Is registered in the search key storage area (key) 31, and simultaneously points to one word record “love” registered in the word record storage area (data) 34. This avoids wasting the storage capacity of the storage means 3, and as a result, the storage means 3 can be configured with a small storage capacity.

Also, when the same search key appears for a word record of another headword, one search key points to a plurality of word records. For example, in FIG.
Since the headword [agape] other than the headword [love] has the meaning of "love", "love" registered in the search key storage area (key) 31 is registered in the word record storage area (data) 34. Point to two word records, [love] and [agape].

Of course, even if the headwords are apparently the same, they are generally registered as different words in the original dictionary when they have different etymologies, so they are registered as separate word records. For example, in the word storage area (data) 34, the noun [might] and the auxiliary verb [might]
As shown, it becomes a separate record and the noun [migh
The key "strength" extracted for the meaning of [t] is the noun [m
Of course, it is only pointed to the word record of [ight], and semantically unrelated words are each registered with a separate key.

When the search key and the word record are stored in the storage unit 3 as a database, the search key is sorted in the order of JIS code, and the word records are sorted in the alphabetical order of the entry word, so as to be used as a thesaurus to be described later. Can be improved.

As described above, the registration unit 2 automatically stores the word record using the Japanese meaning item of the foreign language (English in the embodiment) as a search key for all the words described in the original dictionary 11. 3, a large-scale electronic dictionary can be constructed easily and with high reliability.

Hereinafter, a foreign language (English in this embodiment) dictionary search using an electronic dictionary provided with the database registered as described above will be described.

When the user inputs a Japanese “meaning” to be searched as a search key from input means such as a keyboard constituting the input unit 42 of the user interface 4, the search result is displayed on the output unit 41. At this time, if the key corresponding to the input key is a word whose semantic description is described in the dictionary, not only those that can always be searched, but also the case where the same semantic description is described in multiple words Since it is possible to search at the same time, it can be used as a thesaurus.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are diagrams for explaining an example of search execution by a view as the user interface 4 in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, for example, when the above-mentioned “love” is input as a search key, the input display section view 401 of the view 400 is displayed.
Will display "Love". This “love” corresponds to the item “love” in the search key storage area (key) 31 of the storage means 3 in FIG. 1, and the corresponding word record is inputted by inputting from the search execution command button (not shown) of the user interface 4. The word records of [agape] and [love] in the storage area (data) 34 are searched, and the results are displayed on the output display unit view 402 as shown in FIG. 3 and presented to the user. In view of this presentation, the user writes the English word and the phonetic symbols, parts of speech, their meanings, and other word records for Japanese "love".
The synonyms and other meanings can be listed.

Also, even in the case where the meaning is not described in the dictionary, since the keys are sorted in JIS code order, it is possible to search before and after in the word record order of the dictionary using the search button 403, 404 in the view 400 Because it is easy, by looking at the item of the meaning of the presented word record, it is possible to search by ambiguous input and to search for idioms (words) and examples.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the search result displayed in the user interface view when the search before and after using the search before and after search buttons 403 and 404 in the view 400 is performed on the result of once searching for “love” described in FIG. Here, by operating the post-search button 404, the search key [love] stored next to the search key "love" in the search key storage area (key) 31 in the JIS code order is displayed on the output display view 402. Is displayed. This search result includes [dear] as a synonym. In this case, [dear] is searched for from the meaning as an adjective and [love] is searched from the meaning as a verb, but the user does not need to be aware of the difference in the part of speech when inputting a key.

As described above, by adopting the method of performing the search from the meaning of Japanese, the user can search the English-Japanese dictionary as if he were looking up the Japanese-English dictionary. In addition, since it can be used as a synonym dictionary at the same time, the concept and usage of words can be easily understood.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the English-Japanese dictionary mainly for Japanese as described above, and various applications are possible.

Recently, the number of foreigners living in Japan is increasing, and such a dictionary that is easy to use is indispensable when they learn Japanese. However, most foreign language dictionaries are originally made for Japanese people, making them difficult for foreigners to use.

The present invention has a function that can be easily applied as such a Japanese language learning device for foreigners. For example, in addition to the synonym search function described in FIGS. In FIG. 4, the search is performed one after another using the semantic item as a key, and by selecting another meaning of the searched word and using this as a search key to expand the search range, the Japanese word has You can easily understand the semantic space of the concept. Since the dictionary to be searched is a dictionary in which foreign languages are found after the heading, a Japanese language learning device that is easy to be familiar to foreigners can be provided.

Note that the search key in the present invention need only be determined by looking at its semantic items, so the configuration of the registration means itself may be relatively simple, and one word record may be used for a common search key. Since only registration is required, the capacity of the storage means can be saved, so that the device as an electronic dictionary system can be easily realized and the processing speed is high.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, an item to be input as a search key in a search of a foreign language electronic dictionary has its Japanese meaning, so that it can be used with the same feeling as a Japanese dictionary, At the same time, because it can be used as a thesaurus, it is easy to understand the concept and usage of the word, and to re-examine other items that are common in dictionary lookup, for example, more sophisticated items of Japanese words obtained from an English-Japanese dictionary This makes it possible to use an extremely efficient (highly usable) dictionary that can also eliminate the inconvenience of using two types of dictionaries, such as rewriting the dictionaries in Japanese-English dictionaries.

Furthermore, the devices constituting the system are also relatively small-capacity storage devices and have the effect that high-speed processing can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an English-Japanese dictionary search system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a word record which is disassembled by the registration means in FIG. FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams of a configuration example, and are explanatory diagrams of a search execution example using a view of the user interface in FIG. 1 ... character input means, 2 ... registration means, 3 ... storage means, 4 ... user interface, 5 ... search execution means.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a dictionary database, a foreign language which is a headword from a foreign language-Japanese dictionary, and a heading extracted from a Japanese meaning notation part for a foreign language of the foreign language-Japanese dictionary. Registration means for generating a search key composed of Japanese corresponding to a word and registering it in the storage means as a dictionary database together with the word data of the foreign language-Japanese dictionary, and storage means based on the search key entered at the time of search A search execution unit for searching for a word record from a database stored in a database, and a user interface including an input unit for the search key and an output unit for outputting a search result. A foreign-language electronic dictionary search method that searches for the corresponding foreign language from the meaning of the word.