The multifunctional LBC-Corpora: different aims depending on the user

Abstract

Abstract Corpora are nowadays the primary source of many dictionaries and the core element of various platforms and information systems. Lexicographers have therefore a variety of new possibilities which were unthinkable in the past with different types of corpora available for use in the data collection phase of the lexicographic process (Flinz 2021). Not only lexicographers, but also other types of users (academics, translators, teachers, students etc.) can profit from them, especially when corpora are public and can be accessed using corpus linguistic tools (Ballestracci/Buffagni/Flinz 2020; Flinz/Farina 2020). The LBC-corpora are monolingual specialized comparable corpora, already online (http://corpora.lessicobeniculturali.net/) and, as monitor corpora (Lemnitzer/Zinsmeister 2015: 140), they will be augmented over time. They can be analysed using the open source tool NoSketchEngine (Billero 2020). The LBC-Corpora are also the lexicographic primary source of the LBC multilingual dictionary, which is in preparation: the provisional entry lists of different languages (Spanish, German, and French) are now ready (Billero/Farina/Nicolás Martínez 2020) and together with a selection of KWICS, which have been carefully selected following a quantitative-qualitative procedure (for German see Buffagni/Flinz/Ballestracci in prep.), will soon be online (Flinz et al. in prep.). The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the LBC-corpora from a double perspective: from the user of the LBC-platform and from the lexicographic team. In the first case following an overview of the principal characteristics of the LBC-Platform, the focus will be on the accessible corpora showing the tools which can be used (§ 2). In the second case the LBC-corpora will be examined in their function as a data basis for the LBC-Dictionary (§ 3). The attention will be on the data preparation phase: after discussing the procedure for the realization of the LBC-provisional lemma candidate lists, the focus will be on the adopted procedure for finding equivalence relations and for the individuation of other types of relations between the entries (synonymy, belonging to the same semantic field etc.). In § 4 the focus will be on the LBC-provisional lemma candidate lists and their related KWICs. Conclusions and an outlook to the future can be found in the last section (§ 5).