Word-formation strategies and processes in the creation of synsets for the African wordnet

Abstract

The African wordnet (AWN) provides South African indigenous languages with a platform to access a machine-readable lexical database organised by meaning. The creation of the African wordnet was based on the Princeton wordnet. As in the case of the Princeton wordnet, the African wordnet groups African language words into sets of synonyms along with short definitions and usage examples, as well as records relations between synonyms. This article examines a number of synsets in order to identify the word-formation processes used by various linguists in constructing the AWN. Since the English Princeton wordnet was used as the basis for the lexical database in the creation of the African wordnet, various word-formation strategies had to be used to account for lexical items that are not lexicalised in the African languages. Access to the created synsets was gained via a web browser, which is an automated text analysis application.