University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

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An Improvement of the Hyper Dictionary through IndoEuropean Roots and Voices
Wataru Ishikawa
Abstract

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The Hyper English Word Study Dictionary was invented
to make the learning of English words more efficientand deep. The Hyper Dictionary possesses contents using Indo-European Roots, a virtual language called theancestor of many present languages including English.
Several English words can be learned via Indo-Europeanroots related to them with functions of the Hyper Dictionary because one Indo-European root word branches toseveral English words. However, the Hyper Dictionary
did not possess multimedia contents. Indo-European isa virtual language, so it is thought that pronunciation inherited from Indo-European roots to present English is
significant. In this research, adding voices to the Hyper
Dictionary was conducted to put more stress on learning
English through pronunciation as a first step of multimedia contents. By development of the Hyper Dictionary,users can listen to voices when they access Word andIndo-European root web pages in the Hyper Dictionary,and pronunciation of words which have the same IndoEuropean root can be compared. Accomplishment of
this research showed that the Hyper dictionary became
more massive as a online dictionary and that relationships between English words which have the same IndoEuropean root became clearer.

1 Introduction
1.1 Background

Supervised by Prof. Nobuyoshi Asai

ing English words. The Hyper Dictionary carries out usage the same as ordinary dictionaries, but it possesses an
original feature. The Indo-European roots are inserted
into the Hyper Dictionary. First, Proto-Indo-European
is a virtual language obtained by theoretical reconstruction in the comparative linguistics field, and a gatheringof its stems is grouped in various patterns as the IndoEuropean roots. It is thought that many languages including English were derived from Indo-European roots.
Therefore, these roots can be called the original source
language of English, or in other words, its ancestor.
These Indo-European roots can be referred from theAmerican Heritage Dictionary [?] [?]. American Heritage Dictionaries are compiled by authorities of various
fields such as cultural anthropology, construction, law,
military affairs, religion, movie, music, and sports. It is
published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Many American Heritage Dictionaries exist, and the American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European roots is the most important for us and is the basis of this research. A special
function is provided in the Hyper Dictionary. The IndoEuropean roots and English words are linked, and canbe found from each other. To learn English words with
Indo-European roots is more efficient than to conduct itwith nothing, since the words are learned thinking about
relations between Indo-European roots and present English. It follows the fact that English words were derived from Indo-European roots. One Indo-European
root word branches to several English words, so several
English words can be learned via Indo-European roots
related to them. This function makes learning English
words more efficient. Also, English words can be learned
deeply because we can learn them with tracing the origin.

Generally, it is said that English is a difficult language
to learn for Japanese people. This phenomenon resultsfrom Japanese being different from English in the origin and structure of words. Many dictionaries to consult
and learn English words exist, but they seem to be inadequate in helping people study English words well. Thus, 1.3 An Improvement of the Hyper DictioIndo-European roots were aimed at to solve this probnarylem. Can the learning of English words be conducted
deeply using them? The project of the Hyper English By last year, the following functions and information
Word Study Dictionary with Indo-European roots started had been established in the Hyper Dictionary [?]: IndoEuropean roots, prefixes, stems, synonyms, example
based on this thought. [?] [?] [?]sentences, applications for study, and interim transitional
1.2 Indo-European Roots
words. The purposes of this research were to add voices
Conventional dictionaries can only provide users trans- to the Hyper Dictionary and to improve it. There is allations of English words, and users just memorize them. ready a variety of functions in the Hyper Dictionary, esThat is not effective, and it is difficult to strengthen learn- pecially Indo-European roots, but it has few multimedia

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University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

2functions, and it seemed that its contents were weak as 2 Discussion
an online dictionary. It is said that the best way to learn
English is to speak English in general, and many books 2.1 An Environment of the Hyper Dictionary
and websites about the great effectiveness of pronunciation are published [?] [?]. Indo-European is a virtual The Hyper Dictionary runs using several kinds oflanguage, so it is thought that pronunciation inherited technology.
from Indo-European roots to present English is significant. Therefore, voices were added to the Hyper DictioOperating System RedHat 9.0
nary, putting a stress on learning English. [?]JAVA Version
J2SDK1.4.2
Web Server
Apache2.0.47
Servlet Container Tomcat4.1.27
RDB Server
MySQL4.0.16
JDBC Driver
mm.mysql• The Base of the Hyper Dictionary
The base of the Hyper Dictionary consists of RedHat
Linux 9.0 and JAVA language.
• Web Server: ApacheFigure 1: Indo-European Roots

Apache1 is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) web
server software based on The National Center for Supercomputing Applications httpd Ver.1.3, and it is a free andopen source. Although Apache is free software, it has
high reliability and many functions, and it is said thatthe reliability and functions are not inferior to those ofbusiness web servers, such as the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) and the iPlanet Web Server. Also,
Apache has the best share of web servers all over theworld.
• Java Source Pages (JSP)
JSP is text documentation which produces responses touser’s requests from set protocols such as HTTP. It ismainly used to build web applications. The constructionof JSP is that particular tags for JSP were embedded inHyper Text Markup Language (HTML). The JSP container interprets these tags, and dynamic HTML pages
were generated.
• Servlet
Servlet is a technology which builds dynamic contents.
It is a class of JAVA, and the class possesses a function which manages requests from HTTP and sends responses.

Figure 2: An Example Page of the Hyper Dictionary
2003• Servlet Container: Tomcat
1

http://www.apache.jp/misc/download.html

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

Tomcat2 is an openly developed web application serverwhich runs Java servlet and JSP on a server machine.
Sun Microsystems and Apache Software Foundation developed it together, and it is a reference implementation
for Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition, which is a platform in server side Java technology of Sun Microsystems.
• RDB Server: MySQL

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one pronunciation since the WAV file included pronunciation of many English words. It was conducted using
free software, spwave for Windows5 , My Wave Cutter6 ,and a shareware ALLREC SOUND cutter7 . In addition,
they were converted to MP3 files with CDex8 , anothermusic file format, and it is generally said that MP3 files
have smaller volumes than WAV files, so they can be reproduced more efficiently.
2.2.2 Implementation

MySQL3 is the most popular open source Relational
Database Management System (RDBMS) which is fasterat searching for data than other RDBMSs in business.
Also, that MySQL can accommodate to several platforms such as Unix, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OS, and FreeRSD is an advantage.

To reproduce voices, a technique of the Real Player9
which is also free software was selected because it adapts
to Windows and Linux. Old JSP files were improved
to link to Real Player with new HTML, JAVA, andJavascript sources. Words requested by clients are readin the Hyper Dictionary, and new JSP files interpret
strings of these words as names of voice files. Then,• JDBC Driver: MySQL Connector
these voice files are reproduced. It is not only a method
in which voice reproductions will start automaticallyJava Database Connectivity (JDBC) is an Application when clients click voice icons on web pages of the Hyper
Program Interface to access RDBMS from Java pro- Dictionary, but another method in which voices are regrams. Programs which are independent of the kind produced by clients with software on client’s computersof database can be developed, but a driver adapted to after downloading voice MP3 files. However, in either
each database must be introduced to that system in order event, clients need to obtain the Real Player software toto actually operate the JDBC. The driver is the JDBC listen to voices. Therefore a link to Real.com and a leadDriver4 . [?] [?] [?] [?]ing to download it were located on the top page of theHyper Dictionary. [?] [?] [?] [?]2.2 About Adding Voices to the Hyper Dictionary

2.2.1 Background Information
By last year, there were 10700 English words which
could be looked up in the Hyper Dictionary, and more
words should be added to it. A new list of 12813 words
was distributed to the members of our laboratory, but
it had mistakes in spelling, and some words in it overlapped with words which had already been exhibited in
the Hyper Dictionary. Since voices must be obtained
from a native English speaker to obtain genuine pronunciation of English words, a list of words which would
be inserted into the latest Hyper Dictionary needed to bemade as soon as possible. Hence, the first step in conducting this research was to make the list. Then the list
which was constructed by checking overlaps and mistakes between the new 12813-word list and the old one,and it was sent to an English teacher at the University of
Aizu to record his native voice on computer. The voice
was made as one WAV file, a music file format, and submitted to me by my supervisor. However, the file had
to be split into several files so that each file had only
2 http://jakarta.apache.org/

3 http://www.mysql.com/
4

http://www.mysql.com/products/connector-j/index.html/

Figure 3: A Leading to Download the Real Player

5 http://www.itakura.nuee.nagoya-u.ac.jp/people/banno/bannoj.html/
6 http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA007724/
7 http://pine.zero.ad.jp/meronsoft/
8 http://www.cdex.n3.net/lang/langcheck.php/
9
http://www.jp.real.com/

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3 Conclusion

3.1 Evaluation

Clients can listen to voices when they access Words
and Indo-European root web pages in the Hyper Dictionary. The Word pages have voice icons near the word
searched by clients, and pronunciation can be listened toby clicking the icons. The Indo-European root web pageshows a list of English words which have the same IndoEuropean root. Thus, voices were inserted into eachword listed on the web page.

The new Hyper Dictionary obtained a valuable function by the addition of voices to the Hyper Dictionary
for users to enhance learning efficiency, and it became
more massive as a online dictionary. We were able torecognize relationships and connections between IndoEuropean roots and present English words since pronunciations of words which have the same Indo-European
root could be compared. In this research, relationships between English words which have the same IndoEuropean root became clearer. Hence, it was concluded
that addition of voices was very profitable in the development of the Hyper Dictionary.

3.2 Future Work
The Hyper Dictionary does not carry phonetic symbols.
Therefore, the addition of them and their pronunciation to the Hyper Dictionary will be profitable certainly.
Also, with gaining a foothold in addition of voices, dynamic improvements should be brought to the Hyper
Dictionary by multimedia contents in the future.

Acknowledgement

Figure 4: A word page featuring voice of the Hyper Dictionary 2004

First, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Nobuyoshi Asai for his great assistance inweekly meetings and personal sessions throughout myresearch. Also, I am grateful to Prof. Kenneth Cranker
and prof. Takafumi Hayashi for providing his voice andmaking voice files. I received great cooperation frommembers of my laboratory, Mr. Owada, Mr. Otake,
Mr. Matsumoto, and Mr. Takahashi. Finally, I am very
thankful to my parents for support and encouragement
throughout college.

References[1] “Nihonno eigo kyouiku”,
http://www.geocities.co.jp/CollegeLifeClub/5117/page012.html/[2] “WR0160”,
http://world-reader.ne.jp/renasci/another/uzaku990728.html/[3] “SPACE ALC”,
http://www.alc.co.jp/[4] C. Watkins, The American Heritage Dictionary of
Indo-European Roots Second Edition,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Figure 5: An Indo-European Root page featuring Voiceof the Hyper Dictionary 2004

[5] M. S. Berube, The American Heritage Dictionaryof the English Language Fourth Edition,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

[6] “N. Asai laboratory at the University of Aizu, Hyper English Dictionary 2003 Edition”,
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