Algorithmic Complexity and Learnability in German Monolingual Learner Lexicography. A Case Study

Abstract

[EN] This paper analyzes the algorithmic complexity (also known as Kolmogorov complexity or descriptive complexity) of the lemma corpus included in the Wortfamilienw & ouml;rterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache (WfWG; Augst 2009) as a function of its macrostructural arrangement. The results show that, compared to the alphabetical order, the WfWG word-family arrangement produces an algorithmically more compressible, and therefore less complex version of the lemma corpus. This observation points to a higher degree of learnability and cognitive accessibility of the lemma corpus arranged in word families.