A high-speed large-capacity dictionary system

This paper describes a method of adapting dictionaries for use by a computer in such a way that comprehensiveness of vocabulary coverage can be maximized while look-up time is minimized. Although the programming of the system has not yet been completed, it is estimated at the time of writing that it will allow for a dictionary of 20,000 entries or more, with a total look-up time of about 8 milliseconds (.008 seconds) per word, when used on an IBM 704 computer with 32,000 words of core storage. With a proper system of segmentation, a dictionary of 20,000 entries can handle several hundred thousand different words, thus providing ample coverage for a single fairly broad field of science. Although the system has been designed specifically for purposes of machine translation of Russian, it is applicable to other areas of linguistic data processing in which dictionaries are needed.