Lemmatization: An Investigation into the Meta-Lexicographic Practice in Punjabi

Abstract

Precise lemmatization is the nucleus of the micro structural information of a headword in any dictionary. It helps not only in succinctly appropriate de-structuring of the word into desired morphological semantic and syntactic categories but also having access to a desired entry. The present study seeks to highlight inconsistencies with reference to lemma in the Punjabi dictionaries and suggests a suitable model for these dictionaries. The investigation as such is the study of general principle of lemmatization which underpins dictionary look-ups of a dictionary user. It is both quantitative and empirical in nature, and employs statistical means to measure the frequencies of dictionary look-ups in the major Punjabi dictionaries available in Pakistan. It further seeks to check the validity of using a word-form as lemma to i) see the usefulness of providing lexical information about all related words occurring under a headword form at the same place in dictionary, ii) see whether Punjabi dictionaries available in Pakistan conform to this norm and iii) suggest concrete steps to improve the existing dictionaries of Punjabi in the context of lemmatization. The data for the study was gathered through the survey of Punjabi dictionaries and a test of user’ look-up procedures of randomly chosen lexical items. The study revealed that lemmatization process adopted in most recently published dictionaries fully conforms to lexicographic requirement of user’ friendliness.