History: Dictionary

This page is a summary of information about the Lojban Dictionary: It's history, current form, and future design.

Dictionary Software and Data

• jbovlaste is the Lojban dictionary.
• Lojban Online Dictionary Query. The jbovlaste search engine.
• Dictionaries, Glossers and parsers contains links to software for using a Lojban Dictionary.
• Word Lists contain dictionary information in a variety of formats.

Dictionary Discussion

Several pages on the wiki discuss the Lojban Dictionary. Those are collected here:

• The Lojban Dictionary
• Great Dictionary Problem
• dictionary notes from 2001
• BPFK Section: Dictionary Preface
• Old Draft Dictionary
• Mini-dictionary
• Mini-dictionary To-do
• Mini-dictionary paradigms

Dictionary Design

This section is an exploration of the issue started in this discussion about the dictionary backend.

What Are the requirements of a dictionary backend?

• We want to generate a print dictionary from the data.
• jbovlaste must be able to use the format.
• We want to generate flash cards from the data.

What sorts of things *should* a Lojbanic dictionary store, ideally?

• Are any of these use cases unsuitable for a dictionary? Are there use cases we haven't thought of that are suitable?
• Can we separate a definition from its grammatical context? Are we treating Lojban gismu too much like a verb or noun in the way we handle them now?

What storage format is going to work for all of these use cases?

• Each use of the dictionary data needs to view it in a different way. Can we design a format that can be shared between all users of the data?
• Since the form of a dictionary entry is often unstructured text, What would a dictionary definition look like that supports all of our use cases without duplicating the definitions by changing their form? (e.g., a brief definition for a study card, a full definition for a print dictionary, and an archive discussion for the online dictionary?)

What prior art is there?

• Dictionaries are not a new problem, how do other people deal with this?
• Is Lojban fundamentally different because of its formal grammar? Is our thinking on this problem influenced by working with languages that don't have a formal grammar: Is a dictionary a compromise that we have a better solution for?