Patent Document

This Application claims priority of Taiwan Patent Application No. 97146196, filed on Nov. 28, 2008, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates generally to a method for constructing a Chinese dictionary and apparatus and storage media using the same, and more particularly, to a method for constructing a Chinese dictionary and apparatus and storage media using the same, wherein a Chinese collocation is provided for a Chinese term according to a probability for nominalization of the Chinese term. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As the increasing prevalence of the internet, one not only can obtain the desired information from the traditional books, but also from the internet For many Chinese learners, on-line Chinese dictionaries or electronic dictionaries have been the important tools for learning Chinese. In light of this, constructing an on-line Chinese dictionary or an electronic dictionary which provides complete teaching functions has become an important issue. 
     For a querying operation of an on-line Chinese dictionary located via the internet or an electronic dictionary, a user typically enters a Chinese term, and in response, the Chinese dictionary lists, in addition to the definition (assumed from hereforth), the possible parts-of-speech and corresponding collocations of the queried Chinese term for reference and learning. As an example, when a user&#39;s query is the Chinese term “xue xi                       the Chinese dictionary will list all the possible parts-of-speech, such as verb, noun, adjective and so on, and corresponding collocations of the queried Chinese term “xue xi                     Chinese example sentences including the queried Chinese term and corresponding collocations for each part-of-speech respectively would be listed. In the case of the queried Chinese term “xue xi           being used as a verb part-of-speech, a conventional Chinese dictionary would list “ta “xue xi” zhong wen           as a Chinese example sentence. Here, corresponding collocations would include a pre-term subject “ta           and a post-term object “zhong wen           respectively inserted preceding and following the queried Chinese term “xue xi           A similar process would be performed for listing a Chinese example sentence using “xue xi           as a noun part-of-speech.
     One method for constructing a Chinese dictionary is provided by the Chinese Word Sketch Engine disclosed by the Academia Sinica of Taiwan. The Chinese Word Sketch Engine determines Chinese collocations according to English grammar, and constructs a Chinese dictionary based on the Chinese collocations. However, the Chinese Word Sketch Engine does not take into account part-of-speech differences between English and Chinese. As such, erroneous determinations may be provided. Following are 3 Chinese example sentences provided by the Chinese Word Sketch Engine, following query of the Chinese term “xue xi            
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Chinese Word Sketch Engine of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 xue xi           (VC) + 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Objective 
                 Chinese Example Sentence 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                 huan jing            
                 . . . rang xue sheng jin bu de ying yu xue xi 
               
               
                   
                   
                 “huan jing”                      
               
               
                   
                 ma lie zhu yi 
                 . . . ta zhi chu           , jun dui yao ren zhen 
               
               
                   
                 
                           
                 
                 xue xi “ma lie zhu yi”                      
               
               
                   
                   
                 
                           
                 
               
               
                   
                 zhong wen            
                 . . . wo zheng zai xue xi “zhong wen” (           
               
               
                   
                   
                 
                           
                 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     As shown in Table 1, only 2 of the 3 example sentences are appropriate example sentences of the Chinese term “xue xi             being used as a verb. In Table 1, for the second and third example sentences, the Chinese Word Sketch Engine provided the appropriate respective post-term Chinese collocations “ma lie zhu yi           and “zhong wen           However, for the first example sentence, an erroneous part-of-speech determination of the Chinese term “xue xi           occurred. In the first example sentence, the Chinese term “xue xi           with the post-term Chinese collocations “huan jing          )” should be as a noun and not as a verb, although the post-term “huan jing           is a noun. It is the nominalization for the Chinese term “xue xi           and the erroneous part-of-speech determination is due to lack of nominalization determination of the Chinese Word Sketch Engine.
     Another known method for constructing a Chinese dictionary utilizes the Smadja Xtract system. The Smadja Xtract system for constructing a Chinese dictionary determines Chinese collocations according to statistics. However, nominalization determination is also not provided by the system, thus, erroneous Chinese example sentences may be provided. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention discloses an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary, comprising a nominalization determination module and a part-of-speech modification module. The nominalization determination module determines a probability for nominalization of a Chinese term with a given collocation term according to a determination rule and the correlation between the Chinese term and its corresponding collocations, wherein the Chinese term is determined to be a verb part-of-speech. The part-of-speech modification module modifies the verb part-of-speech of the Chinese term with the given collocation term to an appropriate part-of-speech when the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term with the given collocation term is higher than a predetermined value. 
     Furthermore, the invention discloses a method for constructing a Chinese dictionary. The method comprises determining a probability for nominalization of a Chinese term with a given collocation term according to a determination rule and the correlation between the Chinese term and its corresponding collocations, wherein the Chinese term is determined to be a verb part-of-speech. The method further comprises modifying the verb part-of-speech of the Chinese term with the given collocation term to an appropriate part-of-speech when the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term with the given collocation term is higher than a predetermined value, and storing the correlation between the Chinese term, the given collocation term and the appropriate part-of-speech in a storage device. 
     Furthermore, the invention discloses a storage medium for storing a program for constructing a Chinese dictionary. The program for constructing the Chinese dictionary comprises a plurality of program codes to be loaded onto a computer system so that a method for constructing the Chinese dictionary is executed by the computer system. The method comprises determining a probability for nominalization of a Chinese term with a given collocation term according to a determination rule and the correlation between the Chinese term and its corresponding collocations, wherein the Chinese term is determined to be a verb part-of-speech. The method further comprises modifying the verb part-of-speech of the Chinese term with the given collocation term to an appropriate part-of-speech when the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term the given collocation term is higher than a predetermined value, and storing the correlation between the Chinese term, the given collocation term and the appropriate part-of-speech in a storage device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For fully understanding the of the purpose, the features, and the advantage of the invention, preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail with reference to the following description. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  depicts a diagram of an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  depicts an operation flowchart of an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to an embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 3  depicts a querying operation flowchart of an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims. 
       FIG. 1  depicts a diagram of an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to an embodiment of the invention. The apparatus  100  for constructing a Chinese dictionary comprises an article collection module  110 , an article dividing module  120 , a nominalization determination module  130 , a part-of-speech modification module  140 , a collocation generation module  150 , an exception database  160 , a collocation database  170  and an example sentence database  180 . Operation of the embodiment of the apparatus  100  for constructing a Chinese dictionary is described in detail below. 
       FIG. 2  depicts an operation flowchart of an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to an embodiment of the invention. It is to be emphasized that the invention requires a massive amount of Chinese articles in order to determine appropriate Chinese collocations of a Chinese term therefrom. Therefore, at the beginning, the article collection module  110  collects a massive amount of Chinese articles (step S 20 ). The Chinese articles may be collected from sources such as the Chinese Gigaword Corpus, but is not limited thereto. After collection of the Chinese articles, the article dividing module  120  performs dividing procedures on the collected Chinese articles (step S 21 ), in order to determine suitable Chinese collocations of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech based on the divided Chinese articles. Note that the invention aim at the nominalization of a Chinese term which is used as a verb part-of-speech, not other part-of-speech. Next, as described previously, a probability for nominalization of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech is required to be firstly determined before determining the Chinese collocations for the Chinese term. Therefore, the nominalization determination module  130  determines a probability for nominalization of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech (step S 22 ). Note that the invention only discusses the nominalization of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech, and not nominalization of any Chinese term being the other part-of-speech. Also note that the nominalization determination module  130  performs the nominalization determination according to a determination rule, such as a maximum entropy method, a support vector machine, a hidden Markov model, a classifier, the other statistics method, and so on. The preferred embodiment is illustrated with the maximum entropy method as follows. 
     Before describing determination of the probability for nominalization of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech, please note the following. As described in step S 21  of  FIG. 2 , the article dividing module  120  divides each of the collected Chinese articles to produce a plurality of Chinese terms. Specifically, all punctuation marks from each of the collected Chinese articles are removed to produce a plurality of Chinese sentences, and then the plurality of Chinese sentences is divided into a plurality of Chinese terms. In addition, the probability for nominalization of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech is based on the plurality of Chinese sentences. 
     In this embodiment, the Chinese term “xue xi             as a verb part-of-speech is used as an example to determine the probability for nominalization of a Chinese term. Thus, all Chinese sentences with the Chinese term “xue xi           are selected from the Chinese sentences. Next, a portion of data from the selected Chinese sentences is extracted for parameter training, and the trained parameters are used to determine the parameters of other portions of data from the selected Chinese sentences to determine the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term “xue xi           being a verb part-of-speech. For example, if there are  500  selected Chinese sentences with the Chinese verb part-of-speech “xue xi           then 100 selected Chinese sentences out of the 500 selected Chinese sentences may be extracted for parameter training. Thus, the trained parameters are used to determine the parameters of the other 400 selected Chinese sentences to determine the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term “xue xi           being a verb part-of-speech.
     For example, assume that the 100 selected Chinese sentences comprise Chinese sentences such as “wo zheng zai “xue xi” zhong wen             and “zhe ke cheng ti gong neng rang xue sheng jin bu de “xue xi” huan jing                               etc. Next, the invention would obtain six characteristic values from each of the selected Chinese sentences. The six characteristic values may be values such as the Chinese term, the Chinese pre-term immediately preceding the Chinese term and the Chinese post-term immediately following the Chinese term, as well as values such as a determined part-of-speech for the Chinese pre-term, another determined part-of-speech for the Chinese post-term and the verb part-of-speech of the Chinese term. For example, three characteristic values for the Chinese sentence “wo zheng zai “xue xi” zhong wen                     may be defined as the Chinese term “xue xi           the Chinese pre-term “zheng zai           immediately preceding the Chinese term, and the Chinese post-term “zhong wen           immediately following the Chinese term. In addition, another three characteristic values for the Chinese sentence “wo zheng zai “xue xi” zhong wen                     may be defined as the verb part-of-speech “VC”, a determined part-of-speech for the Chinese pre-term “zheng zai           which is “D”, and another determined part-of-speech for the Chinese post-term “zhong wen           which is “Na”. Note that for more detailed description concerning part-of-speech related to the Chinese language please refer to PERIODCATEGORY developed by the Academia Sinica of Taiwan in which the above three parts-of-speech “VC”, “D” and “Na” are defined and listed. Based on the above assumptions, six characteristic values may be obtained for the each of the selected Chinese sentences with the Chinese term “xue xi           Following, the six characteristic values are assigned corresponding weighted and return values. The characteristic values and their corresponding weighted and return values for the 100 selected Chinese sentences are shown in Table 2 below:
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 List of Characteristic Values and Their Corresponding Weighted 
               
               
                 and Return Values 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                   
                 weighted 
                   
               
               
                 number 
                 Definition 
                 value (λ i ) 
                 return value 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 f1 
                 determined part-of-speech for 
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                   
                 the Chinese pre-term = ”D” 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f2 
                 Chinese pre-term = ”zheng zai 
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                   
                 
                           
                 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f196 
                 determined part-of-speech for 
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                   
                 the Chinese pre-term = ”DE” 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f197 
                 Chinese pre-term = ”de            
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                 f198 
                 Chinese term = ”xue xi            
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                 f199 
                 verb part-of-speech = ”VC” 
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                 f200 
                 Chinese post-term = ”huan jing 
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                   
                 
                           
                 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f201 
                 determined part-of-speech for 
                 TBD 
                 TBD 
               
               
                   
                 the Chinese post-term = ”Na” 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In Table 2, TBD means to be determined, and all weighted and return values are initially not obtained, as, before determining the weighted and return values of the characteristic values, the weighted value of the Chinese term “xue xi             (namely, the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term “xue xi           being a verb part-of-speech) must be first determined. The determination of the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech requires manual determination of the 100 selected Chinese sentences. If the Chinese term “xue xi           is found to have been nominalized in 81 out of the 100 selected Chinese sentences, then the nominalized percent of the Chinese term “xue xi           for the 100 selected Chinese sentences would be 0.81. Note that the nominalized percent is not the probability for nominalization of the Chinese verb part-of-speech “xue xi           and is simply utilized, along with the maximum entropy method, to determine the weighted and return values for the characteristic values in Table 2.
     Table 3 is the status of return values under parameter training. In Table 3, the six characteristic values of “de             “DE”, “xue xi           “VC”, “huan           and “Na” of the Chinese sentence “zhe ke cheng ti gong neng rang xue sheng jin bu de “xue xi” huan jing                               are used as examples. Thus, because the six weighted values of the six characteristic values are to be determined, the six corresponding return values are temporarily set as 1 and return values of other characteristic values are temporarily set as 0.
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 The Status of Return Values Under Parameter Training 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                   
                 weighted 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 value 
                   
               
               
                 number 
                 Definition 
                 (λ i ) 
                 return value 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 f1 
                 determined part-of-speech for the 
                 TBD 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 Chinese pre-term = ”D” 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f2 
                 Chinese pre-term = ”zheng zai  
                 TBD 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 
                           
                 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f196 
                 determined part-of-speech for the 
                 TBD 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                 Chinese pre-term = ”DE” 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f197 
                 Chinese pre-term = ”de            
                 TBD 
                 1 
               
               
                 f198 
                 Chinese term = ”xue xi            
                 0.81 
                 1 
               
               
                 f199 
                 verb part-of-speech = ”VC” 
                 TBD 
                 1 
               
               
                 f200 
                 Chinese post-term = ”huan jing            
                 TBD 
                 1 
               
               
                 f201 
                 determined part-of-speech for the 
                 TBD 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                 Chinese post-term = ”Na” 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Next, Formulas provided by the maximum entropy method are used to calculate the weighted values for f196 to f201, except for f198, which was already manually determined. Formula (A) and Formula (B) is as follows: 
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     
                       
                         ∑ 
                         
                           i 
                           = 
                           1 
                         
                         n 
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
                           Pr 
                           ⁡ 
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               
                                 X 
                                 i 
                               
                               | 
                               I 
                             
                             ) 
                           
                         
                         ⁢ 
                         
                           
                             f 
                             k 
                           
                           ⁡ 
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               x 
                               i 
                             
                             ) 
                           
                         
                       
                     
                     = 
                     
                       F 
                       k 
                     
                   
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
 
                   
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       k 
                       = 
                       1 
                     
                     , 
                     … 
                     ⁢ 
                     
                         
                     
                     , 
                     
                       m 
                       ; 
                       and 
                     
                   
                 
               
               
                 
                   ( 
                   A 
                   ) 
                 
               
             
             
               
                 
                   
                     
                       F 
                       k 
                     
                     = 
                     
                       
                         ∂ 
                         
                           ∂ 
                           
                             λ 
                             k 
                           
                         
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       log 
                       ⁢ 
                       
                           
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         Z 
                         ⁡ 
                         
                           ( 
                           
                             
                               λ 
                               1 
                             
                             , 
                             
                               λ 
                               2 
                             
                             , 
                             … 
                             ⁢ 
                             
                                 
                             
                             , 
                             
                               λ 
                               m 
                             
                           
                           ) 
                         
                       
                     
                   
                   , 
                 
               
               
                 
                   ( 
                   B 
                   ) 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
     
     wherein each function is defined as: 
     Pr(X i |I): probability for nominalization of a Chinese term being a verb part-of-speech; 
     f k (x i ): return value of a characteristic value; and 
     F k : characteristic function of a specific characteristic value, which is determined by the weighted values of the individual characteristic values. 
     Thus, when applying the Chinese pre-term “de             to Formula (A) and Formula (B), as an example, the weighted value of the Chinese pre-term “de           is 0.72. As such, it is determined that 72% of the Chinese term “xue xi           following the Chinese pre-term “de           are nominalized. Note that all weighted values in Table 2 are calculated.
     Thus, when applying the pre-term “de             to Formula (A) and Formula (B), as an example, the weighted value of the pre-term “de           is 0.72. As such, it is determined that 72% of the Chinese verb part-of-speech “xue xi           following the pre-term “de           are nominalized. Note that all weighted values in Table 2 are calculated.
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 4 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 The Trained Weighted Values 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                   
                 weighted 
                   
               
               
                 number 
                 Definition 
                 value (λ i ) 
                 return value 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 f196 
                 determined part-of-speech for 
                 0.62 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                 the Chinese pre-term = ”DE” 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f197 
                 Chinese pre-term = ”de            
                 0.72 
                 1 
               
               
                 f198 
                 Chinese term = ”xue xi            
                 0.81 
                 1 
               
               
                 f199 
                 verb part-of-speech = ”VC” 
                 0.65 
                 1 
               
               
                 f200 
                 Chinese post-term = ”huan jing 
                 0.5 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 
                           
                 
                   
                   
               
               
                 f201 
                 determined part-of-speech for 
                 0.5 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 the Chinese post-term = ”Na” 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
             
               Pr 
               ⁡ 
               
                 ( 
                 
                   
                     x 
                     i 
                   
                   | 
                   I 
                 
                 ) 
               
             
             = 
             
               
                 1 
                 
                   Z 
                   ⁡ 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       
                         λ 
                         1 
                       
                       , 
                       … 
                       ⁢ 
                       
                           
                       
                       , 
                       
                         λ 
                         m 
                       
                     
                     ) 
                   
                 
               
               ⁢ 
               
                 exp 
                 ⁡ 
                 
                   [ 
                   
                     
                       
                         λ 
                         1 
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
                           f 
                           1 
                         
                         ⁡ 
                         
                           ( 
                           
                             x 
                             i 
                           
                           ) 
                         
                       
                     
                     + 
                     … 
                     ⁢ 
                     
                         
                     
                     + 
                     
                       
                         λ 
                         m 
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
                           f 
                           m 
                         
                         ⁡ 
                         
                           ( 
                           
                             x 
                             i 
                           
                           ) 
                         
                       
                     
                   
                   ] 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
     
     Next, the trained weighted value and return value results are added into the equation above which determines the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term “xue xi             and the result is shown below.
     
       
         
           
             P 
             = 
             
               
                 
                   1 
                   Z 
                 
                 ⁢ 
                 
                   exp 
                   ⁡ 
                   
                     [ 
                     
                       
                         0.452 
                         * 
                         1 
                       
                       + 
                       
                         0.023 
                         * 
                         0 
                       
                       + 
                       
                         0.371 
                         * 
                         1 
                       
                       + 
                       … 
                       + 
                       
                         0.002 
                         * 
                         1 
                       
                     
                     ] 
                   
                 
               
               = 
               0.962 
             
           
         
       
     
     As shown, the probability for nominalization of the Chinese term “xue xi            )” is 0.962. Thus, since 0.962 is greater than the predetermined value, 0.5, for example, the Chinese verb part-of-speech is considered to be nominalized. Note the predetermined value of 0.5 is merely an empirical value, and may be any other predetermined value.
     Following, the nominalized Chinese term is stored in the exception database  160  (step S 23 ) so that nominalization determination will not be required to be performed again. 
     Next, the part-of-speech modification module  140  modifies the nominalized Chinese term to an appropriate part-of-speech (step S 24 ). For example, the nominalized Chinese term “xue xi             is modified from a Chinese verb part-of-speech “VC” to a Chinese noun part-of-speech “Nc”. Thus, due to the method for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to embodiments of the invention, appropriate Chinese parts-of-speech are determined. Following, Chinese collocations for the Chinese term according to the appropriate part-of-speech are provided for additional language teaching functions (step S 25 ).
     As described previously, the invention selects all Chinese sentences with the Chinese term “xue xi             and finds out the related Chinese collocations for the Chinese term “xue xi           from the selected Chinese sentences. The selection of Chinese collocations is dependent upon two factors: the strength of the Chinese collocations with respect to the Chinese term “xue xi           and the location of the Chinese collocations with respect to the Chinese term “xue xi           The strength of the collocations refer to the number of times that the Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation both appear in an observation window. The location of the Chinese collocations refers to the number of Chinese characters located between the Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation in the observation window. The observation window may either be a whole Chinese sentence or a portion of the Chinese sentence (a limited number of characters).
     The formula for strength of a Chinese collocation is as follows: 
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 k 
                 i 
               
               = 
               
                 
                   
                     freq 
                     i 
                   
                   - 
                   
                     f 
                     _ 
                   
                 
                 σ 
               
             
             , 
           
         
       
     
     wherein each variable is defined as: 
     freq i : the number of times that a Chinese term and the Chinese collocation both appear in an observation window; 
       f : the average of all freq i ; and 
     σ: standard deviation, 
     The formula for location of a Chinese collocation (using an observation window of 10 Chinese characters as an example) is as follows: 
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 U 
                 j 
               
               = 
               
                 
                   
                     ∑ 
                     
                       j 
                       = 
                       1 
                     
                     10 
                   
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         
                           P 
                           i 
                           j 
                         
                         - 
                         
                           
                             p 
                             _ 
                           
                           i 
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     2 
                   
                 
                 10 
               
             
             , 
           
         
       
     
     The variable j represents the number of Chinese terms located between a Chinese term “xue xi             and the Chinese collocation. Note that a Chinese term may not necessarily consist of only one Chinese character. For example, the Chinese term “xue xi           consists of two Chinese characters. In this regard, if the number of Chinese terms located between a Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation is 5, there are at least 5 Chinese characters located between the Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation. In addition, the P i   j  is the number of times the Chinese collocation appears in a location which is j number of Chinese terms away from the Chinese term “xue xi           For example, if the variable j is 1, it indicates that there is 0 Chinese term located between a Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation. In above description, the variable j being 1 means no Chinese term is located between a Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation. Similarly, the variable j being 3 means 2 Chinese terms are located between a Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation. In addition,  p   i  represents the average of all P i   j &#39;s.
     Based on the calculation result of k i  and U j , a Chinese collocation may be determined as only being appropriate if the calculated k i  is higher than an empirical threshold of 0.7, and the calculated U j  is higher than an empirical threshold of 12. Note that the empirical thresholds are non-limiting. Table 5 is an exemplary Chinese collocation list. Note the Chinese term appeared in the exemplary Chinese collocation list of Table 5 is not limited to the “xue xi             described above, but with “lian meng           included also. In fact, the Chinese term in a real implementation may cover a variety of Chinese characters, as the Chinese characters “xue xi           and “lian meng           are merely used as an example for illustration of the invention.
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 5 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 An Exemplary Chinese Collocation List 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Distance 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (Between The 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Number 
                 Chinese Term 
                   
                   
               
               
                 Chinese 
                 Chinese 
                 of Times 
                 And The Chinese 
                   
                   
               
               
                 Term 
                 Collocation 
                 Appearing 
                 Collocation) 
                 Strength 
                 Scattering 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 lian meng 
                 yu qing            
                 238 
                 0 
                 0.98 
                 2.52 
               
               
                 
                           
                 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 xue xi           -1 
                 huan jing           -1 
                 1114 
                 0 
                 2.73 
                 23.7 
               
               
                 xue xi            
                 huan jing            
                 690 
                 1 
                 0.32 
                 18.1 
               
               
                            -2 
                            -2 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 xue xi            
                 huan jing           - 
                 532 
                 2 
                 1.24 
                 13.2 
               
               
                 -3 
                 3 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 xue xi 
                 zhong wen 
                 231 
                 0 
                 4.21 
                 28.1 
               
               
                 
                           
                 
                 
                           
                 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In Table 5, the distance represents the number of Chinese terms located between a Chinese term and a Chinese collocation. For example, the distance of the Chinese term “lian meng             being 0 would suggest that there is no Chinese term located between the Chinese term “lian meng           and the Chinese collocation “yu qing           As such, a combination of the Chinese term “lian meng           and the collocation “yu qing           would read: “er tong fu li “lian meng” “yu qing” lao shi bu yao ti fa xue tong                               In the above Chinese example sentence, the Chinese term “lian meng           appears together with its Chinese collocation “yu qing           without any Chinese term located between them. Here is another example, the distance of the Chinese term “xue xi          -3” being 2 would suggest that 2 Chinese terms are located between the Chinese term “xue xi          -3” and the Chinese collocation “huan jing          -3”. As such, a combination of the Chinese term “xue xi          -3” and the collocation “huan jing          -3” would read: “zhe xue xiao ti gong xue sheng yi ge “xue xi” ying yu de “huan jing”          -                    In the above Chinese example sentence, the Chinese term “xue xi          -3” appears together with its Chinese collocation “huan jing          -3” with two Chinese terms “ying yu           and “de           located between them. In addition, the Chinese collocation “yu qing           appears with the Chinese term “lian meng           238 times. However, the scattering result of 2.52 is less than the empirical threshold of 12. Thus, the Chinese collocation “yu qing           will not be stored in the collocation database  170 . Additionally, three Chinese collocations “huan jing           appear with the same Chinese term “xue xi           i.e. “huan jing          -1” with respect to the Chinese term “xue xi          -         -1”, “huan jing          -2” with respect to the Chinese term “xue xi          -2” and “huan jing          -3” with respect to the Chinese term “xue xi          -3”. the Chinese collocation “huan jing          -2” appears with the Chinese term “xue xi          -2” 690 times and the scattering result of 18.1 is greater than the empirical threshold of 12. However, the strength result of 0.32 is less than the empirical threshold of 0.70. Thus, the Chinese collocation “huan jing          -2” will not be stored in the collocation database  170 . Given the results in Table 5, only 3 of the shown example Chinese collocations match the defined criteria, “huan jing          -2”, “huan jing          -3”, and “zhong wen           Next, Chinese example sentences are provided for the Chinese collocations (step S 26 ). For example, for the Chinese term “xue xi           and the Chinese collocation “zhong wen           an example sentence such as “fu qi liang shi feng mu qin zhi yu, fen bie yan shi “xue xi” “zhong wen”                               may be provided. Thus, the Chinese collocation “zhong wen           is stored in the collocation database  170 , and an example sentence such as “fu qi liang shi feng mu qin zhi yu, fen bie yan shi “xue xi” “zhong wen”                               is stored in the example sentence database  180  for the Chinese term “xue xi           (step S 27 ).
     Following is a combined list of Chinese verb part-of-speech and Chinese collocations. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 6 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 A Combined List of Chinese verb part-of-speech and Chinese 
               
               
                 Collocations 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Part- 
                   
                 Part- 
                   
               
               
                   
                 of-speech 
                   
                 of-speech 
                   
               
               
                   
                 of Chinese 
                 Chinese 
                 of Chinese 
                 Collocation 
               
               
                 Chinese Term 
                 Term 
                 Collocation 
                 Collocation 
                 Distance 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 xue xi            
                 VC 
                 huan jing            
                 Na 
                 1 
               
               
                 zhu ban            
                 VC 
                 dan wei            
                 Na 
                 1 
               
               
                 diao cha            
                 VE 
                 jin xing            
                 VC 
                 −1 
               
               
                 qing jie            
                 VH 
                 wei chi            
                 VJ 
                 −1 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Referring to Table 6, the collocation distance represents the number of Chinese terms that a Chinese collocation is located away from its corresponding Chinese term. A positive valued collocation distance means that the Chinese collocation follows the Chinese term in a Chinese sentence. A negative valued collocation distance means that the Chinese collocation precedes the Chinese term in a Chinese sentence. For example, the distance of the Chinese collocation “dan wei             being 1 would suggest that the Chinese collocation “dan wei           is located one Chinese term away following its Chinese term “zhu ban           As such, a combination of the Chinese term “zhu ban           and the collocation “dan wei           would read: “zi ce hui shi zhe ci zi xun jiang xi de “zhu ban” “dan wei”                               In the above Chinese example sentence, the Chinese collocation “dan wei           is the next Chinese term (located one Chinese term away) following its Chinese term “zhu ban           Here is another example, the distance of the Chinese collocation “jin xing           being −1 would suggest that the Chinese collocation “jin xing           is located one Chinese term away preceding its Chinese term “diao cha           As such, a combination of the Chinese term “diao cha                     and the collocation “jin xing           would read: “jing fang jue ding dui zhe jian xuan an chong xin “jin xing”                               In the above Chinese example sentence, the Chinese collocation “jin xing           is the next Chinese term (located one Chinese term away) preceding its Chinese term “diao cha          )”.
       FIG. 3  depicts a querying operation flowchart of an apparatus for constructing a Chinese dictionary according to an embodiment of the invention. First, a Chinese dictionary user enters a queried Chinese term (step S 30 ). Next, the Chinese collocations corresponding to the queried Chinese term are searched in the Chinese collocation database  170  (step S 31 ), and the possible Chinese collocations are listed for the Chinese dictionary user&#39;s reference (step S 32 ). Next, the Chinese example sentences corresponding to the Chinese collocations are searched in the Chinese example sentence database  180 , and a filtering procedure is performed on the searched Chinese example sentences (step S 33 ). Finally, a list of appropriate Chinese example sentences is generated for the Chinese dictionary user&#39;s reference (step S 34 ). 
     Note that in the step S 33 , the filtering procedure is performed according to the following two conditions: 
     (1) The sentence lengths for each Chinese example sentence; and 
     (2) The number of Chinese characters located between the queried Chinese term and the Chinese collocation for each Chinese example sentence. 
     For Condition (1), the sentence lengths for each Chinese example sentence that exceeds a threshold sentence length may be filtered out (discarded). For Condition (2), the Chinese example sentences having a number of Chinese characters located between the queried Chinese term and the Chinese collocation that exceeds a threshold number may also be filtered out (discarded). Note that Condition (1) and Condition (2) filters out the more complicated and complex Chinese example sentences. 
     Additionally, in the step S 33 , the filtering procedure may also include showing the number of times the queried Chinese term and the Chinese collocation both appear for each Chinese example sentence. Thus, showing the commonality between the queried Chinese term and the Chinese collocation. 
     In addition, the method for constructing a Chinese dictionary can be recorded as a program in a storage medium for performing the above procedures, such as an optical disk, floppy disk and portable hard drive and so on. It is to be emphasized that the program of the Chinese dictionary constructing method is formed by a plurality of program codes corresponding to the procedures described above. 
     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Technology Category: g