The Base lexicale du français The Base lexicale du français (BLF):(BLF):a multifunctional online a multifunctional online database for learners of database for learners of FrenchFrench

Serge VerlindeSerge Verlinde

Thierry SelvaThierry Selva

Jean BinonJean BinonK.U.Leuven, Modern language instituteK.U.Leuven, Modern language institute

Groupe de recherche en lexicographie pédagogique (GRELEP)Groupe de recherche en lexicographie pédagogique (GRELEP)

Pedagogical lexicography: English and Pedagogical lexicography: English and FrenchFrench

For EnglishFor English, since ‘95:, since ‘95:LDOCE, LEA, LLA (Longman)LDOCE, LEA, LLA (Longman)OALD, OCD (Oxford)OALD, OCD (Oxford)Cobuild (Collins Cobuild)Cobuild (Collins Cobuild)CIDE (Cambridge)CIDE (Cambridge)MED (Macmillan)MED (Macmillan)……

For FrenchFor FrenchDico du fr. fondamental (Gougenheim, ‘58)Dico du fr. fondamental (Gougenheim, ‘58)Dico du vocabulaire essentiel (Matoré, ‘70)Dico du vocabulaire essentiel (Matoré, ‘70)Dico Larousse du fr. langue étrangère (Dubois, ‘77-‘79)Dico Larousse du fr. langue étrangère (Dubois, ‘77-‘79)

Dico du français (Rey-Debove, ‘99)Dico du français (Rey-Debove, ‘99)(Dico du fr. usuel (Picoche et Rolland, 2002))(Dico du fr. usuel (Picoche et Rolland, 2002))

The BLF:The BLF:an online learning environment for Frenchan online learning environment for French

general French

Business French

lexical db

corpus

exercises

dictionary

MySQLdatabase

PHP-scripts

‘user-sensitivelexicography’:6 differentinterfaces

1exercisegenerator

learner

Why 6 different interfaces?Why 6 different interfaces?

1. I want info on a French word

2. I only know a Dutch/English word,but not the French equivalent

3. I prefer to discover the infostep by step

4. How do you express intensification?Which verbs take the preposition à before the infinitive?

5. I don’t like searching in dictionaries

6. How do you say ‘very bad’ conditions?I don’t find it in the dictionary…

The BLF: monolingual dictionary The BLF: monolingual dictionary (1) (1) – – word combinationsword combinations

LDOCE 2003/2005 BLF

The BLF: monolingual dictionary The BLF: monolingual dictionary (2)(2) – – thesaurus > semantic networksthesaurus > semantic networks

Cobuild 2003

BLF (player 1: joueur)

The BLF: bilingual dictionary – The BLF: bilingual dictionary – translationstranslations

Robert&Collins 2004 (build – invest) BLF

The BLF: database dictionaryThe BLF: database dictionary

BLFTLFi

The BLF: dictionary ‘+’ reading assistantThe BLF: dictionary ‘+’ reading assistant

consultation of a dictionary = a steeple chaseconsultation of a dictionary = a steeple chase– sache > savoirsache > savoir– pose … question pose … question

> poser? question? poser une > poser? question? poser une question?question?

– en tout casen tout cas> en? tout? cas? en tout cas?> en? tout? cas? en tout cas?

BLF

The BLF: dictionary ‘+’ writing assistantThe BLF: dictionary ‘+’ writing assistant

Cf. Cf. Adam Kilgarriff: WordSketchesAdam Kilgarriff: WordSketchesPeter Blumenthal: profils combinatoiresPeter Blumenthal: profils combinatoires

profiles for 13000 wordsprofiles for 13000 words

comparison of profiles for comparison of profiles for xx pairs of words pairs of words

BLF

BLF

The BLF: exercise generatorThe BLF: exercise generator

Online learning environment (Alfalex)Online learning environment (Alfalex)

- exercises- exercisesautomatically generatedautomatically generated

Dafles + corpus = AlfalexDafles + corpus = Alfalexcontextualcontextualon various features (word combin., on various features (word combin.,

semantics!)semantics!)- help function- help function- database with answers- database with answers- balanced correction- balanced correction- feed-back- feed-back

- automated tutor- automated tutorBLF

The BLF: the futureThe BLF: the future

complete the lexicographic descriptioncomplete the lexicographic descriptionmainly: syntactic patterns, examples, mainly: syntactic patterns, examples,

translationtranslation

improve the reading and writing assistantimprove the reading and writing assistant

generate a mixed frequency list:generate a mixed frequency list:single words and multiword unitssingle words and multiword units