Structure of the terminological database
The terminological database is a collection of terminological entries (concepts). Each terminological entry possesses one or more language section(s) and one or more term section(s). A concept is thus described by n terms in n languages. Furthermore the concepts are linked by conceptual relations. Each data item in the database refers to a category of data defined by the ISO 12620 standard or specifically defined for TermSciences.
List of elements and their meaning
| Element | Remarks |
|---|---|
| terminologicalEntry | Terminological entry (concept) |
| conceptIdentifier | Computer identifier for the terminological entry |
| languageSection | Language section made up of all the terms in a given language |
| languageIdentifier | Unique identifier for a language. Possible values: fr, en, sp, al, etc. |
| termSection | Term section – one section per term |
| term | Term; all the terms in the same section are considered to be synonyms |
| administrativeStatus | Status of a term in its original vocabulary (e.g. Preferred term in the MeSH). Possible values: preferredTerm; deprecatedTerm, etc. |
| transaction | Used to specify the update of term (input, modification, deletion), see list of values below |
| date | Used to specify the date a term was updated |
| originatingInstitution | Origin of an element, generally the name of an institution |
| originatingDatabaseName | The name of the terminological resource the term came from; a vocabulary or thesaurus from an institution |
| broaderConceptGeneric | Broader concept; used here to describe the "is a" type of relation but sometimes used for the "part of" type relations. Certain broader concepts are contextual meaning they are specific to a user in a given field (see domainExpert) |
| relatedConcept | Related concept |
| domainExpert | This defines a specific field of knowledge in which the concept is used. |
| subjectField | The field a terminological entry comes from originally; one or more scientific fields to which the concept is related |
| applicationSubset | Field of application of a concept |
| associatedConcept | Non-hierarchical theme-based relation between two concepts. Here it corresponds to the semantic category a concept belongs to (e.g. Chemical compound, Illness etc.) |
| definition | Describes a concept to differentiate it from other concepts in the same scientific field. Valid for all terms in a given terminological entry |
| source | Bibliographic data on the origin of a data item such as a definition, etc. |
| partOfSpeech | Grammatical category of a given term (Part of speech) |
| grammaticalGender | Gender of the term (masculine, feminine, neutral) |
| grammaticalNumber | Number of the term (singular, plural) |
| lexTermType | Type attributed to a lexeme or term. Can include several different values: abbreviation, full form, formula, etc. |
| context | Extract from a text which shows the term in context. In this case, the term will be displayed between two "annot" markers |
| note | Application note. Gives other information on any part of a lexical resource. Can complete a definition. |
| elementWorkingStatus | Status of a terminological entry currently being ratified for scientific approval |
List of values and their meaning
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| consolidatedElement | Approved terminological rntry |
| workingElement | A terminological entry that is being modified |
| starterElement | A terminological entry that has been added |
| archivedElement | A terminological entry that has been deleted |
| Noun | Noun |
| Adjective | Adjective |
| Masculine | Masculine |
| Feminine | Feminine |
| Neutral | Neutral |
| Singular | Singular |
| Plural | Plural |
| fr | French |
| en | English |
| sp | Spanish |
| al | German |
| it | Italian |
| ar | Arabic |
| po | Polish |
| ro | Rumanian |
| preferredTerm | Preferred term in a given vocabulary. |
| deprecatedTerm | A term that has been "relegated" (former preferred term) in a given vocabulary. |
| supersededTerm | Obsolete term in a given vocabulary. |
| modification | Transaction corresponding to the modification of a term |
| input | Transaction corresponding to a term that has been added |
| abbreviation | Abbreviation of a term; it is linked to an expanded form |
| fullForm | Full form of a term; linked to the shortened version |
In the XML structure, two basic elements can be distinguished:
- a struct element which when combined with a "type" attribute permits the representation a site of the structural skeleton;
- a feat (feature) element which, when also combined with a "type" attribute, permits the specification of a feature of the node containing it.
There is also:
- a mechanism for grouping features together using the brack (bracket) element
- a representation of annotations which the value of a feature might contain using the annot element.
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