University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

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Addition of Search Function by Suffix to Hyper English
Dictionary with Indo-European roots
Toshiyuki Oowada
Abstracts1080053

The Hyper English Dictionary is one type of Internet dictionary that is comprised of Indo-European roots. It enables learners of English to understand the roots and definitions of English words at the same time. It is very important to learn the roots of English word because all English words are branched to Indo-European roots. Some
English words are branched to the same Indo-Europeanroots. Learners of English can learn some English wordsat the same time by learning one of the Indo-Europeanroots. In this research, a new search function by the suffixes of English words is added to the Hyper English
Dictionary. This new search function by suffix of English words makes understanding and searching of English words and stems easier for learners. Understanding many stems assists learners in learning many English
words because many words are comprised of some aggregations of stems.

1 Introduction
1.1 Background1.1.1 What is good dictionary
A good language dictionary can help learners of English
to greatly improve their English. English education is increasingly getting harder. However, many student’s English level has still not improved. Many Japanese students use a dictionary to learn English words and sentence, but almost all students struggle to communicate
well in English. One reason is that learners of English
do not understand the accurate meanings of many English words. Most dictionaries contain many definitionsof English words and example sentences, but they are
not easy to use, in regard to organization. Many definitions and example sentences only confuse learners because learners are not good at searching. A good dictionary should not confuse learners because they are asimportant as a good English textbook or teacher.

Supervised by Prof. Nobuyoshi Asai

potential to improve the English of many learners.

1.2 About Hyper English Dictionary
1.2.1 What is Hyper English Dictionary
The Hyper English Dictionary is an Internet dictionary
with many functions. It is made up of Indo-Europeanroots, so learners of English can understand roots anddefinitions at the same time. It is very important to learn
the roots of English words because almost all Englishwords are branched to Indo-European roots, and someEnglish words are branched to the same Indo-Europeanroot. [?] [?]1.2.2 What are Indo-European roots
Indo-European roots are an aggregation of some stem
patterns of Indo-European and Proto-Indo-European languages. Indo-European and Proto-Indo-European are
extinct languages and were created by linguists inthe early part of the 19th century. Many languages
trace their origins to Indo-European roots, for example,
Indo-Iranian, Greek, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Albanian,
Celtic, Italic, and Germanic(see Figure1), and are referenced in the American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language. [?] [?]1.2.3 What is American Heritage Dictionary of The
English Language
The American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language is a long-standing favorite family dictionary andone of the prime dictionary references for magazines,
newspapers, and dot.com content providers. For scads
of writers and editors across the U.S., it sets the standard on matters of style and lexicographical authority.
Its panel of special consultants includes authorities onanthropology, architecture, cinema, and law, plus military science, music, religion, and sports, and that is reflected in a comprehensive coverage of the arts, culture,and technology. [?]1.3 Functions of Hyper English Dictionary

1.1.2 Internet dictionary

1.3.1 Functions of former Hyper English Dictionary

Now, many people can access the Internet and almost all
Internet dictionaries can be used at a small cost. In termsof number of words, Internet dictionaries cost less thannormal dictionaries, and they include additional data andcan be easily updated. An Internet dictionary has great

Until this year, the Hyper English Dictionary had threemajor alterations. The Hyper English Dictionary hassome search functions using prefixes, Indo-Europeanroots, synonyms, and word stems, which have made iteasier to search and understand English words. The op-University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

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1.4 Purpose of research
1.4.1 Additional search function by suffix
A suffix is an affix added to the end of a word or stem,
serving to form a new word or functioning as an inflectional ending, such as -ness in gentleness, -ing in walking, or -s in sits. It is very important for learners to understand suffixes when they learn English words becausea suffix is one of the stems. The understanding of manystems can help learners to learn many English words because many words are comprised of some aggregationsof stems. The search function by suffixes enables thesearch of English words from a suffix, and it lists English words with the same suffix. Learners of English
can learn some English words simultaneously becausesome English words have the same suffix.
1.4.2 Additional English words
Figure 1: derivation

erating system was changed from Windows to Linux, themost popular operating system because it is free. The
Hyper English Dictionary also has had an application
made of JSP called a Hyper-Tool added. The HyperTool is a quiz application with Indo-European roots. The
Hyper-Tool gives provides quizzes of English word definitions and hints of origins. This application is useful forlearners of English.

2 Discussion
2.1 System of Hyper English Dictionary

1.3.2 Additional functions
This year, the Hyper English Dictionary added four major features; (1) links were added from English words
to example sentences; (2) sound data of English words;(3) groups of English words; and (4) search functions bysuffixes. These alterations make it easier for learners tosearch and understand English words. In this thesis, I
focus on adding search functions by suffixes.
Number of English words
Number of stems
Number of example sentences
Number of preffixes
Number of suffixes
Number of roots

New English words were added to the Hyper English
Dictionary because it contained fewer words than other
Internet dictionaries. In 2003, about 7,000 new English
words along with example sentences and about 700 new
Indo-European roots were added to the Hyper English
Dictionary. Project members added new English words,and I was put in charge of words beginning with the letters P, I, J, K, M, N. These English words were checkedusing many dictionaries and definitions and parts ofspeech of these words were added along with example
sentences.

20000
971066972345
1350

Table 1: Functions of Hyper English Dictionary

The Hyper English Dictionary was created using manykinds of software, for example, Tomcat, Apache MySQL
and mm.mysql. All of these software are free and do not
require a specific platform. [?] [?] [?] [?] [?]OSJava Environment
Servlet Container
RDB Server
JDBC Driver
Web Server

Red Hat 9.0J2SDK 2.0.40
Tomcat 4.1.27
MySQL 4.0.16
mm.mysql
Apache 2.0.40

Table 2: The Hyper English Dictionary System

2.1.1 Explanation of Tomcat
Tomcat is a Servlet container that is needed in order touse the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies.
Servlet is a program of Java that runs on a Web server.
If there is a demand from the Web browser of a client,University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

the Java Servlet will generate the resource of HTML orothers dynamically and will return a result to the Webbrowser. The Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages specifications are developed by Sun under the Java Community
Process.
2.1.2 Explanation of Apache
Apache is a software that works on a Web server andoffers a Web service and works in UNIX or Windows
operating system. It is a free software and was created bymany volunteers. Apache is the most popular Web server
software in the world. The Hyper English Dictionary
therefore runs by a combination of Tomcat and Apache.
2.1.3 Explanation of MySQLThe Hyper English Dictionary database was created byusing MySQL, which enables easy addition and deletionof data. MySQL is Relational DataBase Management
System that it is open source. Relational DataBase Management System is called RDBMS. MySQL does notchoose a platform, for example, a UNIX and Windows
operating system.
2.1.4 Explanation of mm.mysqlThe mm.mysql is Java DataBase Connectivity Driver.
Java DataBase Connectivity called JDBC. JDBC is Application Program Interface for access from JAVA program to RDMS. The mm.mysql can operate the MySQL
database using Structured Query Language.

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English-Japanese Dictionary. Webmin is a web-basedsystem administration tool for Unix servers and services.
In order to use webmin, a web browser must start andaccess the port 10000 of PC by SSL. Then, the browser
shows a display of the inputted user name and password.
By inputting a user name and password, webmin can beused.
• http://localhost:10000 (In case of access from localhost)• http://Host name:10000 (In case of access by input
host name)• http://IP address:10000 (In case of access by input
IP address)
The suffix database was created by MySQL and is very
easy to add and delete data using webmin. Webmin
expresses a MySQL database graphically. Data can beadded or deleted by a mouse click using webmin. Webmin is used to create a suffix database easy. Webmin isable to be used not only on Linux but also on many operating systems, for example, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris and HP-UX because it was made by a CGI programusing Perl 5. The suffix database of definitions was cre-

2.1.5 Explanation of JAVA
A trademark used for a programming language designed
to develop applications, especially ones for the internet,that operate on different platforms, JAVA was originallydevelop by Sun Microsystems. Sun Microsystems callsJAVA a Write Once, Run Anywhere Software.
2.1.6 Attention of systems
The Linux OS initially has some software installed. But
if you reinstall the software that was already installed, it
will not run well. This phenomenon is called conflict.
Conflict is the most frequently occurring error conditionin Linux. If that software still does not run, one must
check the setting of the environmental variable, which isvery important to run different software simultaneously.
The .bashprofile on the home directory must be rewritten
for setting of the environmental variable.

2.2 Development of search function by suffix
2.2.1 Methods analysis
The Search function by suffix was created using
MySQL and webmin and many kinds of dictionaries,for example, New English-Japanese Dictionary, Ge-Figure 2: Display of Webmin
ated using many kinds of dictionaries, for example, New
English-Japanese Dictionary, Genius English-Japanese
Dictionary and Random House English-Japanese Dictionary, all of which are famous in Japan. The New
English-Japanese Dictionary, published by Kenkyusha inUniversity of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

1998, contains many useful explanations of detailed etymology. This is very helpful in tracing the origin ofa word. The Genius English-Japanese Dictionary, published by Taishukan in 2001, is a very intelligible dictionary. The Random House English-Japanese Dictionary,published by Shougakukan in 2002, contains the largest
number of English words. I searched the meaning of suffixes using these dictionaries, and added suffix data to thesuffix database using webmin. [?] [?] [?] [?]s1080053

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my supervisor Professor Nobuyoshi Asai for all his
help, support, and valuable discussions. I also thankall members of the Mathematical Foundation of Computer Science Laboratory, including Yoshikatsu Matsumoto, Wataru Ishikawa, Shingo Ootake and Daisuke
Takahashi, for their help and discussions. I would especially like to extend a special thanks to my parents whose
support enabled me to complete this work.

References[1] N. Asai laboratory at University of Aizu, Hyper English Dictionary,
http://mfntsv1.u-aizu.ac.jp/hidic/[2] Margery S. Berube, The American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language 4th Edition,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
[3] C. Watkins, The American Heritage Dictionary ofIndo-European Roots Second Edition,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
[4] A. S. Hornby and Sally Wehmeier, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford UniversityPress, 2002.

Figure 3: Search function by suffix

2.2.2 Evaluation
The search function by suffix was evaluated by ten participants when it was completed. Most participants said
that the new search function was more convenient than
the former one. However, a small number said that thesuffix data was still insufficient. Therefore, some suffixes
were added to reference other dictionaries, and some suffix words were changed in detail to enable a deeper understanding of words.

3 Conclusion
In this research, new functions were added to the Hyper English Dictionary, such as a new search function
by suffix of English words. This new search function
allows for a deeper understanding of words and searching for words has become easier for learners of English.
Overall, excellent results were obtained to increasing theusability of the Hyper English Dictionary.

Acknowledgment
I wish to thank the many people who have in one way
or other made this thesis possible. First of all, I thank[5] K. Kihara, GRAND CONCISE ENGLISHJAPANESE DICTIONARY SANSEIDO, 2001.
[6] T. Konishi and K. Minamide, TAISHUKAN’SUnbridged Genius English-Japanese DictionaryTaishukan Publishing Company, Tokyo, 2001.
[7] T. Konishi and M. Yasui and T. Kunihiro and K.
Horiuchi, Random House English-Japanese Dictionary Shogakukan, 2002.
[8] H. Michihata, , ALC Inc., 2002.
[9] Linux Operating System,“Linux Online Web Site”
http://www.linux.org/[10] Apache Jakarta Project,“The Jakarta Site — Apache Tomcat”
http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/index.html[11] MySQL AB,
http://www.mysql.com/[12] Sun microsystems,“Site of Sun microsytems – JAVA”http://java.sun.com/[13] Java Boutique,“WEB technology with java Site”
http://javaboutique.internet.com/tutorials/JSP/part01/page03.html

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2004

[14] S. Yoshimura,“A study about the hyper-dictionary used IndoEuropean roots information Master’s thesis in thedepartment of Science and Engineering at University of Tsukuba, 1997.”

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