Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Wed, 16 Dec 1992 08:24:58 CDT
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      FRANTEXT Database, Pt. 2 of 2

From: Jack Kessler <kessler@well.sf.ca.us>
Subject:  FRANTEXT Database, Pt. 2 of 2

This is the conclusion of Jacques Lemarignier's description of
FRANTEXT, a collection of 2500 French classical fulltexts, which may be
reached online either in Europe or from ARTFL in North America. Access
instructions appear below, as does a description of some of the very
interesting work in online fulltext being done today in France.

(Lemarignier on FRANTEXT, continued:)

If a subject search is attempted over the entire FRANTEXT corpus,
serious problems arise because of the multiple meanings of certain
terms. Such is the case for a question about "WC's", which might take
one wandering through equally specialized terms such as "latrines" or
"gogues"; but then, arriving at "cabinets", one would wander off into
"ministerial cabinets" and related terms. One can, however, limit a
search of the entire corpus to the novel, poetry and the theater to
discipline the search in this sense. The sorting of texts by literary
genre often permits the limitation of word usage to the sense desired,
by isolating a given semantic field.

In another case, however, the examples found serve to enrich the list
of words which define a theme. This is what happened with the research
of texts which might illustrate and clarify the perception which the
French have of the Arabs. About thirty words gradually were found:
"Arabe", "Turcs", "Islam", "islamisme", "Mahomet", "Maures",
"Sarrasins", "musulman", "mahome'tanisme", "Coran", "Alcoran",
"mosque'e", he'gire", "houri", "calife", "be'douin", "se'rail",
"pacha", "eunuque", "Avicenne", "Allah", "La Mecque", "Egypte",
"Damas", "Maroc", "Tunisie", "Palmyre", "Constantinople", "Bagdad". The
terms were used in part or entirely according to the period, the
authors or the texts which particularly interested the users. The
results revealed extreme reactions with regard to the Arabs, very
favorable or very hostile, almost never neutral, and citations such as
the following:

"I never rejoice for our victories over the Arabs...I love these
people, rough, persistant, lively, the final type of primitive
societies, who, halting at mid-day, lying in the shade, beneath the
bellies of their camels, smoking their 'chibouk', scoff at our grand
civilization which quivers in its own rages." Flaubert,
_Correspondance_, August 6, 1846.

"I demand in the name of humanity the destruction of the black stone,
to throw the bits to the wind, the destruction of Mecca, and the
desecration of the tomb of Mohammed. This is the way to demoralise
fanaticism." Flaubert, _Correspondance_, March 1, 1878.

"This evening, at the home of Daudet, Larroumet spoke up curiously for
Morocco, which is the last refuge of old Islam and where torture has a
ferocious quality surpassing that of the tortures of China." Goncourt,
_Journal_, t.4, 1896 (November, 1895).

FRANTEXT cannot, certainly, respond to all needs. Its limits are those
of its corpus, which encompasses 2500 French language texts, from the
16th century to our day, and which had no original purpose other than
to offer an assortment of the French language in its different levels
and over the course of its evolution. No citation may be found which is
not from a text included in the corpus, and no subject search of a work
is possible unless that work is part of the corpus. But experience
shows that one rarely must eliminate these sorts of questions, which
proves, one more time, that the texts were remarkably well-chosen.

This database is useful in a great number of situations, and it offers
immense resources, which marvelously complement, easily and quickly,
more traditional means of research. The results please those who try
it. This brief recounting of typical questions perhaps will give
incentive, to both researchers and the merely curious, to experiment
with the riches of this resource.

(original in French by:)

Jacques Lemarignier, Bibliothe`que Publique d'Information
Centre Georges Pompidou, 19, rue Beaubourg, 75197 Paris Cedex 04

Jacques Lemarignier may be contacted via e-mail c/o Jacques Faule
at faule@univ-rennes1.fr, or via fax to (Paris) 44-78-12-15.
_________________________

The above article will appear in its French original as follows:

Jacques Lemarignier, "Le point de vue d'un interrogateur sur FRANTEXT:
FRANTEXT a` la Bibliothe`que Publique d'Information", in _Les banques
de donne'es litte'raires, comparatistes et francophones_, edited by
Alain Vuillemin, Limoges: Presses de l'Universite' de Limoges et du
Limousin, January 1993 (forthcoming)

This book contains enough that is exciting and new -- there appears to
be a great deal going on in France in online fulltext -- to make
worthwhile the listing here of its table of contents (again, with
permission):

"Avant-propos", by Jean Claude Vareille, Pre'sident de l'Universite' de
Limoges

"L'informatique litte'raire: de quelques effets corollaires", by
Jacques Fontanille, Doyen de la Faculte' des Lettres et Sciences
Humaines de l'Universite' de Limoges

I. LES ENJEUX:

"La lecture assiste'e par ordinateur et la station de lecture de la
bibliothe`que de France", by Jacques Virbel, CNRS, Institut de
Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse, U.Paul-Sabatier (Toulouse I)

"Le re'seau 'litte'ratures francophones' de l'UREF et la recherche
bibliographique", by Jean-Louis Joubert, Universite' de Paris-Nord
(Paris XIII), Universite' des Re'seaux d'Expression Franc,aise,
Coordonateur du re'seau 'Litte'ratures francophones'

"Des banques de donne'es sur les e'tudes litte'raires francophones", by
Claire Panijel, URFIST de Paris-Ecole des Chartes

"Te'le'informatique et litte'rature franc,aise", by Jacques Faule,
Bibliothe`que Publique d'Information, Centre Georges Pompidou

"Banques de donne'es et recherche litte'raire: proble`mes eet
perspectives", by Claude Cazale-Be'rard, U.de Paris X - Nanterre

"La boite en valise ou le poste de travail du litte'raire", by Henri
Behar, Universite' de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris III)

II. LES DOMAINES

"Les litte'ratures d'expression franc,aise", by Jacques Chevrier,
Universite' du Val-de-Marne (Paris XII)

"Le programme 'LIMAG' (litte'ratures maghre'bines), by Charles Bonn,
Universite' de Paris-Nord (Paris XIII)

"Aux sources de 'LIMAG': regard porte' sur la cre'ation d'une banque de
donne'es", by Fe'riel Kachoukh, U.Paris-Nord (Paris XIII)

"Projet de cre'ation d'un lieu ressource dans le domaine de la
litte'rature maghre'bine d'expression franc,aise", by Fe'riel Kachoukh,
Universite' de Paris-Nord (Paris XIII)

"'LITAF': une banque de donne'es de litte'ratures africaines", by
Virginie Coulon, Universite' de Bordeaux I

"'LITAF': petit manuel pratique", by Virginie Coulon, U.Bordeaux I

"La base de donne'es bibliographique 'langue et culture en Louisiane'",
by Maguy Grassin, Universite' de Limoges

"Le point de vue d'un interrogateur: FRANTEXT a` la Bibliothe`que
Publique d'Information", by Jacques Lemarignier, Bibliothe`que Publique
d'Information, Centre Georges Pompidou

"Peut-on re'gler son compte a` la 'raison'?", by Etienne Brunet,
Universite' de Nice

"Le vert de Saint-John Perse", by Eveline Caduc, U. de Nice

"ARIEL", by Pierre Brunel, Universite' de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)

"L'aventure du projet 'ARIEL' ou la gene`se de la banque de donne'es
comparatistes et froncophones 'Ariel-litte'ral' de l'univeriste' de
Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) 1981-1991", by Alain Vuillemin, Universite'
de Limoges

"'SPIRIT': aide a` la constitution de bases de donne'es
bibliographiques", by Fre'de'ric Foussier, INSTN-CEA-Universite' de
Paris-Sud (Paris XI)

"Projet d'une banque de donne'es des 'exempla' me'die'vaux", by
Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu, CNRS

III. LES PERSPECTIVES

"Re'alisation partage'e d'une e'dition de texte a` distance", by
Fre'de'ric Foussier, INSTN-CEA-Universite' de Paris-Sud (Paris XI)

"'EL HADJ': une maquette de banque de donne'es litte'raires,
e'ditoriale et bilingue, en litte'rature compare'e", by Alain
Vuillemin, Universite' de Limoges

"Pour un syste`me de stylistique informatise'", by Bernard Gicquel,
Universite' du Maine

"Bases de donne'es et ge'ne'ration de textes", by Jean-Pierre Balpe,
Universite' de Paris VIII

"La banque de donne'es d'histoire litte'raire", by Michel Bernard,
Universite' de la Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris III)

"La base de donne'es iconographiques des vide'odisques des manuscrits
de la biblioth`que Vaticane", by Je'ro^me Baschet, Ecole des Hautes
Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris)
_________________________

FRANTEXT at the BPI, Paris

FRANTEXT may be consulted at the BPI library at the Centre Pompidou,
Paris (first floor, Bureau 8 - literature), for a fee, from 1 to 5 pm..
Responses are printed out.

FRANTEXT in Europe

Subscriptions are available from the Institut de la Langue Franc,aise,
Tre'sor Ge'ne'rale des Langues et Parlers Franc,ais, (Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique), 52, boulevard de Magenta, 75010 Paris,
telephone (Paris) 42-45-00-77. FRANTEXT's own publicity lists 183
million word-occurrences, 2330 works, 3241 "treated texts", of which
20% are non-literary texts taken from 70 disciplines from the 19th and
20th centuries, 900 authors, 450 publishers, and 53 operating
public-access sites in addition to the BPI, including sites throughout
Europe and in Japan.

FRANTEXT in North America -- the ARTFL database and service

ARTFL is the "North American antenna" for Frantext, according to its
director, Mark Olson (e-mail: mark@gide.uchicago.edu, telephone:
312-702-8488). It contains a copy of the FRANTEXT database, which it
makes available via telnet (to artfl.uchicago.edu) to subscribers (US$
500 per year -- 40 major campuses currently are subscribed) together
with a special, improved interface, and e-mail, ftp, and offline
photocopying services. Olson freely distributes extensive user
documentation and a good bibliography on his ARTFL service and on the
general FRANTEXT concept.
____________________

n.b. Does any of this have SGML markup? How friendly is it to ASCII?
How easy is it to get to? (You can get to it on both Minitel and the
Internet: that's pretty easy.) How inexpensive will it be?  Will
certain types of scholar prefer it to the printed book? Will certain
types of reader? I've neither answered nor frankly asked any of these
questions yet of FRANTEXT. But it is interesting that it's there, and
that it already is as accessible as it apparently is. It's not the only
thing becoming available now in France in online fulltext, moreover, as
the headings shown above from the book in which M. Lemarignier's
article will appear indicate.

Jack Kessler
kessler@well.sf.ca.us
End of Part 2 of 2
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