Word Type
For those interested in a little info about this site: it's a side project that I developed while working on Describing Words and Related Words. Both of those projects are based around words, but have much grander goals. I had an idea for a website that simply explains the word types of the words that you search for - just like a dictionary, but focussed on the part of speech of the words. And since I already had a lot of the infrastructure in place from the other two sites, I figured it wouldn't be too much more work to get this up and running.
The dictionary is based on the amazing Wiktionary project by wikimedia. I initially started with WordNet, but then realised that it was missing many types of words/lemma (determiners, pronouns, abbreviations, and many more). This caused me to investigate the 1913 edition of Websters Dictionary - which is now in the public domain. However, after a day's work wrangling it into a database I realised that there were far too many errors (especially with the part-of-speech tagging) for it to be viable for Word Type.
Finally, I went back to Wiktionary - which I already knew about, but had been avoiding because it's not properly structured for parsing. That's when I stumbled across the UBY project - an amazing project which needs more recognition. The researchers have parsed the whole of Wiktionary and other sources, and compiled everything into a single unified resource. I simply extracted the Wiktionary entries and threw them into this interface! So it took a little more work than expected, but I'm happy I kept at it after the first couple of blunders.
Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: the UBY project (mentioned above), @mongodb and express.js.
Currently, this is based on a version of wiktionary which is a few years old. I plan to update it to a newer version soon and that update should bring in a bunch of new word senses for many words (or more accurately, lemma).
I'm an expert in linguistic projects, particularly those focused on word analysis and classification. My depth of knowledge in this domain stems from hands-on experience, extensive research, and a commitment to refining projects for optimal functionality. I've been involved in the development of projects such as Describing Words and Related Words, both of which revolve around intricate aspects of language.
The project in question, the site dedicated to explaining word types, emerged as a side venture during my work on Describing Words and Related Words. This site is essentially a specialized dictionary, honing in on the part of speech of the words users search for. The decision to create such a platform arose from the need to fill a gap in existing resources.
I initially explored WordNet but found it lacking in coverage for various word types like determiners, pronouns, abbreviations, and more. This led me to delve into the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, a public domain resource. However, after encountering numerous errors, especially with part-of-speech tagging, it became clear that it wasn't a viable option for the Word Type project.
Undeterred, I turned my attention back to Wiktionary, a resource I was familiar with but had reservations about due to its less-than-optimal structure for parsing. Fortunately, my discovery of the UBY project proved to be a game-changer. The researchers behind UBY had meticulously parsed the entirety of Wiktionary and other sources, creating a comprehensive, unified resource. Leveraging this invaluable project, I extracted the Wiktionary entries and seamlessly integrated them into the Word Type interface.
While this endeavor presented more challenges than anticipated, I persevered and successfully brought the project to fruition. Special acknowledgment is due to the contributors of open-source code from the UBY project, as well as those from @mongodb and express.js, which greatly facilitated the development process.
It's worth noting that the current version of the site is based on a slightly dated version of Wiktionary. However, I plan to update it soon to a more recent version, ensuring that users benefit from the latest word senses and lemmas. This ongoing commitment to improvement underscores my dedication to providing a robust and up-to-date linguistic resource for those interested in word types.
