Consulting a Lexicon

Note

In addition to the web based lexicon services described here, ELAN (version 5 and higher) also contains a built-in lexicon component, available as part of the Interlinearization mode. See section Lexicons.

To improve consistency an annotator can use a controlled vocabulary (CV). From a CV an entry can be selected that serves as annotation value. Sometimes, however, it is not immediately clear what CV entry should be selected given a certain media fragment. In that case looking up a proposed annotation in a relevant lexicon could help to make a decision. ELAN enables the user to perform lookups in lexicons through the following steps:

  1. Set up a new Lexicon Service (see Setting up a Lexicon Service).
  2. Enhance a Tier Type so that it's tiers can do a lexicon lookup (sec Set the Lexicon Service and entry field information for a Tier Type).
  3. Perform the lookup (see Perform a Lexicon Lookup).

Setting up a Lexicon Service

A Lexicon Service is in essence a link to a certain lexicon that is hosted on a certain lexicon server. That means that for a user to be able to connect to a lexicon, he needs to connect to the server and subsequently select one of the available lexicons. You can either add a new lexicon or Import an existing one. To add a new lexicon do the following:

  1. In the main menu select Edit > Lexicon Services...
  2. In the Edit Lexicon Services click Add

    Figure 2.42. Edit Lexicon Services

    Edit Lexicon Services


    Note

    If the Add button is disabled, it means that there is no ELAN extension loaded that can handle Lexicon Services. To install an extension, please consult the release notes of ELAN at https://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/elan/.

  3. On the first page of the dialog that now appears..
    1. Enter a name that is later used to refer to this Lexicon Service.
    2. Select the Lexicon Server Type.
    3. Enter the URL of the lexicon server.
    4. Enter your username and password for the lexicon server.

    Figure 2.43. Name and Lexicon Service Info

    Name and Lexicon Service Info


  4. Click Next
  5. On the second page of the dialog select the lexicon you wish to connect to. The bottom half of the page will contain the description of the lexicon.

    Figure 2.44. Lexicon Selection

    Lexicon Selection


  6. Click Finish

A new Lexicon Service will appear in the drop down list of the Edit Lexicon Service dialog. Click Close to close this dialog.

To import a lexicon do the following:

  1. In the Edit Lexicon Services click Import
  2. The following dialog window will appear:

    Figure 2.45. Previously defined services

    Previously defined services


Once you have selected a service name from the list, you can either click Delete to delete it, or Import to import it. The service name will now be displayed in the Edit Lexicon Service window and you can now add it (see steps 2-6 above).

Set the Lexicon Service and entry field information for a Tier Type

Before an annotation can be used for a lexicon lookup, the tier type of the tier must have a reference to a Lexicon Service. In addition, there must be a reference to the field of an entry that is of interest. To set this information for a tier type, do the following:

  1. In the main menu select Type > Change Tier Type...
  2. Select the a tier type in the pull down menu Select Type.
  3. Next to Lexicon Connection click Select...
  4. Select a Lexicon Service in the drop down list at the top of the dialog.
  5. A list of fields that compose a lexical entry is requested from the lexicon server and shown in the table. Select one.
  6. Click OK

Figure 2.46. Select a Lexicon Service and Entry Field

Select a Lexicon Service and Entry Field


In the Change Type dialog the Lexicon Service name and Lexical Entry Field name are shown. Click Change to commit to the new Lexicon settings.

Perform a Lexicon Lookup

If the tier type of a tier is enhanced with lexicon service and entry field information, lexicon lookups using the annotations of that tier can be performed:

  1. Open the Lexicon Entry tab in main ELAN window.
  2. Select an annotation on a tier of which the tier type is enhanced with a lexicon service and entry field information.
  3. In the Lexicon Entry tab the annotation is entered in the field Annotation and the Get Lexicon Entries button is enabled to indicate a lookup is possible.
  4. Select a constraint from the drop down list.
  5. Click the Get Lexicon Entries button.
  6. A lookup is performed and the results are presented on the right side of the tab in the form of a tree structure.
  7. Open an entry and subsequent entry nodes by clicking the open icon in front of a node (if there is one).
  8. If a node value consist of a URL, selecting the node will open the URL in your default browser.
  9. If you select the top node of an entry, the Change annotation button is enabled to indicate that you can use the value of the entry field as value of the active annotation. Click this button to do so. You can also change the value of the dependent tiers by clicking Change annotation + dependents.

Figure 2.47. The Lexicon Entry tab

The Lexicon Entry tab


Signbank lexicon service

The Signbank lexicon service is a lexicon service plugin that makes a connection between ELAN and an instance of Signbank. Signbank is a webapplication for constructing sign language lexicons (the original Signbank: http://www.auslan.org.au/, several spin offs: https://github.com/Signbank). When ELAN is connected to a Signbank instance that is equipped with this functionality, ELAN is able to show videos of Signbank entries.

Setting up the connection

For setting up the connection, Consulting a Lexicon. Note that when your are editing the lexicon service, you need to select the type Signbank. After editing a new lexicon service, the initial data from the Signbank is downloaded immediately. This may take a while because all available media is also downloaded. The reason for this is that ELAN needs quick access to the media and this is not guaranteed if the data is requested on demand. Because this data may take a great amount of space it may be necessary to change the location of this data from the special ELAN data folder (see 1.1.2. Special ELAN data folder) to elsewhere. See below for how to do this.

Changing the location of cached data

It may prove necessary to change the location of cached data from the special ELAN data folder (see 1.1.2. Special ELAN data folder) to elsewhere. It can be set in the Preferences tab of Edit > Preferences>Edit Preferences. At the item 'Location of cached data' click Browse... and navigate to a new folder in a different location than the default and click Select. The X restores the default file location.

Using the Signbank lexicon service

On top of the default functionality of a lexicon service the Signbank lexicon service comes with a few extras. For those extras to work tiers with a tier type that is connected to the Signbank lexicon must also have a connection to an ECV (see Using an External CV) from that same Signbank. If so the following functionality is available.

For a start, when right clicking an annotation of a tier with a tier type that is connected to the Signbank lexicon, there is an option Show in Signbank in the menu. If clicked the Signbank entry corresponding to the annotation value (which is an ECV entry) is opened in a browser.

Figure 2.48. Show in Signbank

Show in Signbank

Also, when hovering over an annotation of a tier with a tier type that is connected to the Signbank lexicon, while CTRL is pressed, a video of Signbank entry corresponding to the annotation value is displayed next to annotation box.

Figure 2.49. Hovering over annotation while pressing CTRL

Hovering over annotation while pressing CTRL

A videos is also displayed when opening a annotation for editing, in this case selecting an ECV entry, and hovering over an ECV entry in the list.

Figure 2.50. ECVentry hovering

ECVentry hovering

Finally, when searching for lexicon entries in the Lexicon tab, each entry in the result has a link to the lexicon entry in the Signbank webapplication. If clicked the Signbank entry is opened in a browser.

Figure 2.51. Lexicon entry link

Lexicon entry link

Media Displayer

Apart fron the linked media (audio and/or video) that is the basis of the transcription, it is now possible to display media files that are linked to annotations and controlled vocabulary entries. This may come in handy e.g. when choosing an entry from an controlled vocabulary and you want audio and/or visual information to help you choose the correct entry.

Setting up the connection

To accomplish this a special lexicon service extension that also functions as a media provider should be used. First set up the lexicon service (see Setting up a Lexicon Service ). Next, connect the lexicon service to a tier type (see Set the Lexicon Service and entry field information for a Tier Type) that is also connected to a external controlled vocabulary with entry IDs that can be used by the lexicon service (see Associating a tier type with Controlled Vocabularies).

An example of a lexicon service extension that does all this is the Signbank extension. It connects to a Signbank web service (the original Signbank: http://www.auslan.org.au/, several spin offs: https://github.com/Signbank) that also provides a corresponding ECV containing the necessary data.

Using the media displayer

When everything is set up correctly, there are several ways to display the media. First, when holding the CTRL button while hovering over the annotation a media file is displayed next to the annotation, if there is a media file linked to the CV entry of the annotation.

Figure 2.52. Hovering over annotation while pressing CTRL

Hovering over annotation while pressing CTRL

Secondly, when opening an annotation for editing, a list of CV entries is shown. Hover over a CV entry in the list to display the corresponding media.

Figure 2.53. ECVentry hovering

ECVentry hovering