Open AccessThe Lemma and Database Design: Redesigning Representative Poetry Online, Lemmatizing Lexicons of Early Modern English, and Envisioning the Lemmatic Web
Author(s) -
Marc R. Plamondon
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
scholarly and research communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1923-0702
DOI - 10.22230/src.2012v3n2a80
Subject(s) - lemma (botany) , computer science , poetry , reading (process) , world wide web , lexical database , element (criminal law) , base (topology) , word (group theory) , linguistics , information retrieval , database , mathematics , wordnet , political science , philosophy , ecology , mathematical analysis , poaceae , law , biology
This article argues for the usefulness of the lemma as the base element for constructing large databases of texts for digital textual analysis and for providing a new hypertextual reading experience. Support for this is based on the author’s experience designing and developing two major Web initiatives: Representative Poetry Online and the Lexicons of Early Modern English. The basic database features of the two websites are delineated, but the latter website, in particular, is described with a view toward showing the importance of a shift away from envisioning the database as constructed upon word entries to one constructed upon lemmata.