What are the principles according to which lexical data should be represented in order to form a lexical database that can serve as a basis for the construction of several different monofunctional dictionaries? Starting from the notion of lexicographic functions as defined by Henning Bergenholtz and Sven Tarp, this question is approached by analysing how current electronic dictionaries and lexical resource models attempt to satisfy the needs of different types of users in different usage situations, in order to identify general requirements on the model for a lexical resource that aims to be “multifunctional” in the above sense. Based on this analysis, this book explores the use of formalisms developed in the context of the semantic web to approach both general and specific lexicographic questions, in particular the representation of multi-word expressions and their properties and relations. In doing so, this book not only addresses several topics which are of relevance to lexicographers and computational linguists alike, but also supports its claims by providing a prototypical implementation of a multifunctional lexical resource using semantic web formalisms.
