Eckhard Bick - VISL

(1) binary search technique:
a
.
.
[2] colher
[4] desenho .... ....... [17] edição
[3] escabiosa
[1] gigante
.
.
.
.
.
zurzir
b) the inflexion endings are stored retrograde alphabetically in a sequential list, with
combination rules, base conditions and tagging information attached in successive
fields. For speedy access, position line numbers and block size for homonymous
endings are stored separately. The first look-up of an ending controls the next,
working backwards from the end of a word, thus minimising access time: in
"comeis", for instance, -s is looked up first, then -is (in a list also featuring -as, -es, -
is, -os etc.) and last -eis (in a list also containing -ais, -eis, -óis etc.); once "knowing"
about the ending -s, the system does not have to compare for, say, -eio.
c) the suffix and prefix lexicons are both stored in the form of alphabetical pointer
trees (fig. 2), with the suffixes inverted. To find, for instance, the prefix "dis-", the
program looks under "d-", which points to a,e,i and o as second letter possibilities;
"i" is selected, giving a choice between a and s ("dia-" and "dis-"). Finally we get d-is
with a stop-symbol after the s. The last pointer gives access to the combination
rules, base condition and tagging information concerning the chosen prefix. For
suffixes the letter searching order is reversed: "-inho" is thus found as o-h-n-i. The
pointers themselves are memory cells with C-style pointer addresses pointing to the
next level row of letters each itself associated with a new pointer address, leading to
ever finer branchlets of the letter-tree.
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