Lexicon as a surjective relation

A different approach to lexicon is from the perspective of meaning;  not wordforms are the primary focus but meanings. As mentioned in section 1.1.1.1 the ordering in general is done by means of hierarchies and semantic structures. Nevertheless the material the lexicographer has at first hand are all words. Consequently the relation is that all words are related to meanings, but there is not necessarily one word per meaning or concept. This fits to the definition of surjective, this lexical approach can be classified as a surjective relation between the set of words (which are lexical signs) and of meanings/concepts. Figure 2.3 illustrates this relation.

In classic terminology resulting again from procedural lexical approaches this is called an onomasiological lexicon. Termbanks in general try to accomplish this structure.

 
Figure 2.3: Two sets are mapped onto each other by the surjective map f; in the terminology resulting from procedural approaches to lexicon this would be called onomasiological lexicon 

Thorsten Trippel Tue Nov 16 15:01:58 MET 1999