ARISTA Generative Lexicon for Compound Greek Medical Terms

A Generative Lexicon for Compound Greek Medical Terms based on the ARISTA method is proposed in this paper. The concept of a representation independent definition-generating lexicon for compound words is introduced in this paper following the ARISTA method. This concept is used as a basis for developing a generative lexicon of Greek compound medical terminology using the senses of their component words expressed in natural language and not in a formal language. A Prolog program that was implemented for this task is presented that is capable of computing implicit relations between the components words in a sublanguage using linguistic and extra linguistic knowledge. An extra linguistic knowledge base containing knowledge derived from the domain or microcosm of the sublanguage is used for supporting the computation of the implicit relations. The performance of the system was evaluated by generating possible senses of the compound words automatically and judging the correctness of the results by comparing them with definitions given in a medical lexicon expressed in the language of the lexicographer.