Thesaurus control—The selection, grouping, and cross‐referencing of terms for inclusion in a coordinate index word list

Abstract

Abstract The selection, grouping and cross‐referencing of the (usually single‐word) terms are based on: A systematic approach to indexing in depth, based on earlier work and resulting in reasonably consistent indexing. An analytical approach to word forms in which the following categories are distinguished: ACTION forms; MEANS‐material, MEANS‐ma‐chine, and MEANS‐man forms; STATES; VARIABLES; and LATENT PROPERTIES. For each word, those forms included in a certain category are represented by a single code. The category‐switching caused by prepositions must be taken into account. Criteria for term‐splitting with limited semantic factoring. Occasionally, semantic integration is used. Criteria for dealing with antonyms, which are classified as reciprocals, complements, unequivalent opposites, diametrical opposites, and reversals. Introduction of conditional cross‐referencing. Recognition of multiword synonyms as the major difficulty in coordinate indexing.