Implementation of an Electronic Arabic Dictionary Based on Hans ...

<strong>Implementation</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>an</strong> <strong>Electronic</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>Dictionary</strong>
<strong>Based</strong> on H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr
Muhammad Nasir Ibrahim 1 Siti Noormaya Bilmas 1 , Mari<strong>an</strong>i Idroas 2
1 Faculty <strong>of</strong> Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310
UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
2 Faculty <strong>of</strong> Petroleum <strong>an</strong>d Renewable Energy Engineering, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Abstract— <strong>Electronic</strong> dictionaries play a great role on the
spreading <strong>of</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage among non-native speakers. Since <strong>Arabic</strong>
l<strong>an</strong>guage is described to be as a derivative l<strong>an</strong>guage, a root based
arr<strong>an</strong>gement will enable the l<strong>an</strong>guage to be treated as a family <strong>of</strong>
connected words based on the root, thus, it will enable the
l<strong>an</strong>guage learner to be easily skillful.
The common arr<strong>an</strong>gement <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> dictionary is based on the
first letter <strong>of</strong> the words according to the <strong>Arabic</strong> alphabet
sequence. Therefore, the objective <strong>of</strong> this paper is to develop <strong>an</strong>
<strong>Arabic</strong> electronic dictionary based on the root word arr<strong>an</strong>gement
concept. The sample <strong>of</strong> content <strong>of</strong> this electronic dictionary is
based on the H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr dictionary that provides the me<strong>an</strong>ing
for each word, to the information about the root word derivation
form, derivation words <strong>an</strong>d its usage example. This dictionary
popular in teaching <strong>Arabic</strong> as second l<strong>an</strong>guage, However, there is
no electronic version using this dictionary format.
Currently, the prototype <strong>of</strong> the electronic dictionary has been
designed, implemented <strong>an</strong>d tested in st<strong>an</strong>dalone PC, nevertheless,
in future it c<strong>an</strong> be implemented in <strong>an</strong> IPHONE devices or as a
web-based dictionary so as to encourage non-<strong>Arabic</strong> speaker to
learn <strong>Arabic</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage easily.
Keywords- database structure, <strong>Arabic</strong> root word, electronic
dictionary
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, document processing in various daily life
activities such as governmental <strong>of</strong>fices, library automation,
publishing houses, b<strong>an</strong>ks, postal services, <strong>an</strong>d communication
m<strong>an</strong>agement has been shifted from paper-based documents to
digital forms (E-Documents) because <strong>of</strong> the adv<strong>an</strong>tages <strong>of</strong>
document processing via computers. It is similar for the paper
form dictionary <strong>an</strong>d other spoken sources <strong>of</strong> multilingual
information. This great shift to electronic documents is because
<strong>of</strong> the availability <strong>of</strong> reliable tools that are capable in searching
<strong>an</strong>d processing written documents for accurate, fast <strong>an</strong>d
convenient way [1]
Due to adv<strong>an</strong>ces in computer technology, l<strong>an</strong>guage
dictionaries become <strong>an</strong> import<strong>an</strong>t l<strong>an</strong>guage supporting tools.
Great achievements <strong>an</strong>d efforts have been reported in m<strong>an</strong>y
l<strong>an</strong>guages for related areas such as natural l<strong>an</strong>guage processing,
speech recognition <strong>an</strong>d Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications.
Most <strong>of</strong> these applications help in second l<strong>an</strong>guage acquisition
<strong>an</strong>d they require the availability <strong>of</strong> electronic dictionaries [2].
Malaysi<strong>an</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong> Higher Education (MOHE) <strong>an</strong>d Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia - research gr<strong>an</strong>t (FRGS Vot number 68262 <strong>an</strong>d GUP Vot number
04.J55)
© ICCIT 2012 528
Zuraimi Yahya 1 , Abuagla Babiker 1,3 , MohdAufa Saiedon 1 , Ali Elfaki 4
3 Department <strong>of</strong> <strong>Electronic</strong>s Engineering, Sud<strong>an</strong> University Of Science <strong>an</strong>d
Technology, Khartoum, Sud<strong>an</strong>
4 Faculty <strong>of</strong> Compute Science <strong>an</strong>d Information System, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
There are m<strong>an</strong>y web-based <strong>an</strong>d st<strong>an</strong>d-alone s<strong>of</strong>tware for
electronic version <strong>of</strong> English-to-other l<strong>an</strong>guage dictionaries
including English to <strong>Arabic</strong>. However, the availability <strong>of</strong>
<strong>Arabic</strong> to other l<strong>an</strong>guage dictionaries is not m<strong>an</strong>y especially
<strong>Arabic</strong> to <strong>Arabic</strong> dictionaries. The essential dictionaries that
c<strong>an</strong> be listed are such as Lis<strong>an</strong>ualarab <strong>an</strong>d Almoajam Alwaseet.
Furthermore, the arr<strong>an</strong>gement <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> to other l<strong>an</strong>guage
dictionary is different due to the special features <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong>
which is not similar to other l<strong>an</strong>guages. On the other h<strong>an</strong>d, the
availability <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> to other l<strong>an</strong>guage such Malay, Chinese
<strong>an</strong>d Urdu in electronic form is less th<strong>an</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> to English.
This paper proposes <strong>an</strong>d designs a general framework for
<strong>an</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> input dictionary, which c<strong>an</strong> be adapted to serve
m<strong>an</strong>y l<strong>an</strong>guages in future. Currently, the framework is using
sample data from H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr dictionary for testing purposes
<strong>an</strong>d it is <strong>an</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong>-to-English dictionary. This dictionary is
written by H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr who is originated from Germ<strong>an</strong>y which
was published as the first <strong>Arabic</strong> to Germ<strong>an</strong> dictionary around
1964.
To enh<strong>an</strong>ce the process <strong>of</strong> teaching <strong>an</strong>d learning <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong>
l<strong>an</strong>guage for non-<strong>Arabic</strong> speakers <strong>an</strong>d maximize the benefits to
other interested people, the system will be publicly available
through the internet with a user friendly interface. Furthermore,
the arr<strong>an</strong>gement <strong>of</strong> the dictionary is combined between
alphabetical form <strong>an</strong>d root-based arr<strong>an</strong>gement.
Section 2 explains theoretical aspects <strong>an</strong>d discusses the
related work. Section 3 explore the dictionary design approach
<strong>an</strong>d highlights the operational mech<strong>an</strong>ism. Section 4 discusses
the issue <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> dictionary implementation. Section 5
concludes this paper <strong>an</strong>d highlights future directions related to
the issue <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Arabic</strong> electronic dictionary.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Historical Information for <strong>Arabic</strong> Dictionaries
International Org<strong>an</strong>ization for St<strong>an</strong>dardization (ISO)
summarizes the issue <strong>of</strong> dictionary in three main points; first,
what are the main components <strong>of</strong> the dictionary (i.e. input <strong>an</strong>d
output l<strong>an</strong>guage), second, the structure <strong>an</strong>d arr<strong>an</strong>gement <strong>of</strong> the
dictionary inputs, <strong>an</strong>d third, the searching methods. Other

scholars describe that “dictionary is about collection <strong>an</strong>d
arr<strong>an</strong>gement“.
There is no doubt that searching methods in electronic
dictionaries is much easier <strong>an</strong>d faster th<strong>an</strong> searching in paperbased
dictionaries. Furthermore, if the dictionary is well
structure, the benefits to the learner will be much more.
As a historical fact, the existence <strong>of</strong> m<strong>an</strong>y <strong>Arabic</strong> books
leads to the urgent need <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> dictionaries. Thus, the basic
definition <strong>of</strong> dictionaries (Muajam <strong>an</strong>d Gamous) is originated
from Arab [3]. Moreover, in the field <strong>of</strong> publishing Linguistic
books, the first nation is China followed by Arab [4]. Arab is
the first in publishing dictionaries but less in producing
electronic <strong>Arabic</strong> dictionaries.
B. <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>Dictionary</strong> Arr<strong>an</strong>gement, H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr <strong>Dictionary</strong>
as Case Study
<strong>Arabic</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage is described to be as a derivative l<strong>an</strong>guage.
In <strong>Arabic</strong> verb morphology, root word c<strong>an</strong> be derived to
generate m<strong>an</strong>y other words, which represents <strong>an</strong> exp<strong>an</strong>sion <strong>of</strong>
the root. Some exp<strong>an</strong>sions are lexical derivations which will
result in "new words". But others are variation <strong>of</strong> the verb's
conjugation [5]. Western scholars have assigned Rom<strong>an</strong>
numerals to the various patterns <strong>of</strong> derivation, which are called
"forms". The root is designated "Form I". A particular form
does not have a consistent me<strong>an</strong>ing across verbs, although it
has a "usual" me<strong>an</strong>ing. In addition, no verb root has all the
derivations. The forms numbered beyond Rom<strong>an</strong> numeral X
are rare <strong>an</strong>d obsolescent, for which reason m<strong>an</strong>y elementary
grammars omit them[5]. The list <strong>of</strong> this common form c<strong>an</strong> be
seen through Table 1. The boldfaced tr<strong>an</strong>sliteration indicates a
word that would actually exist in <strong>an</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> lexicon for this
particular root (ﻝ - ﻉ - ﻑ) (f - ʻ - l - right-to-left) [6].
The middle vocal in “form I” active voice c<strong>an</strong> be a, i or u,
depending on the root applied in “form I”. The exact
vocalization depends on the word form. Forms XI (ifʻālla),
XIII (ifʻawwala), XIV (ifʻ<strong>an</strong>lala), <strong>an</strong>d XV (ifʻ<strong>an</strong>lā) are very
rare. Common uses <strong>of</strong> those stems include [6]:
faʻʻala is <strong>of</strong>ten used to make <strong>an</strong> intr<strong>an</strong>sitive verb tr<strong>an</strong>sitive.
Eg: karuma is "be noble" but karrama is "make (someone) to
be noble", or, more idiomatically, to "honor"[5].
infaʻala gives a passive me<strong>an</strong>ing. Eg: kasara "break" <strong>an</strong>d
inkasara "be broken".
ifʻalla is used only to render stative verbs me<strong>an</strong>ing "to be or
become X" where X is a color or physical defect, eg: iḥmarra
"turn red, blush" or iṭrašša "go deaf".
Then for the derivation, it derives from the root word. The
me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the derivation word has much similar me<strong>an</strong>ing to
the root word me<strong>an</strong>ing[5]
The prototype <strong>of</strong> the dictionary will be tested using sample
content from H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr dictionary; nevertheless, the frame
work is capable to be filled by unrestricted contents. H<strong>an</strong>s
Wehr dictionary is implemented to the proposed framework
based on these reasons. First, it presents the vocabulary <strong>an</strong>d
phraseology <strong>of</strong> modern written <strong>Arabic</strong>. Second, the
arr<strong>an</strong>gement <strong>of</strong> the words is based on root words followed by a
sequence <strong>of</strong> root-related words. The arr<strong>an</strong>gement is unique as it
529
ﺐﺘﻛ
Kataba u (katb, ﺔﺒﺘﻛ kitba, ﺔﺑﺎﺘﻛ kitāba)
To write, pen, write down, put down in
writing, note down, inscribe, enter,
record, book, register (ه s.t.h.); to
compose, draw up, indite, draft (ه s.t.h);
to bequeath, make over by will (ل ه
s.t.h. to s.o); to prescribe (ﻞ ه s.t.h. to
s.o); to foreordain, destines (ل or ﻞ ه s.t.h. to s.o.;
<strong>of</strong> God); pass. kutiba to be
fated, be foreordained, be destined (ل
to s.o.) | ن ا ﻪﺴﻔﻧ ﻞ ﺐﺘﻛ to be firmly
resolved to…, make it one’s duty to …;
ﻪﻨﻋ ﺐﺘﻛ to write from s.o.’s dictation;
ﻪﺑﺎﺘﻛ ﺐﺘﻛ (kitābahū) to draw up the
Marriage contract for s.o., marry s.o.
(ﻞ to) II to make (ە s.o.) write (ه s.t.h.);
to form or deploy in squadrons (ه troops)
III to keep up a correspondence, exch<strong>an</strong>ge letters,
correspond (ە with s.o.) IV to dictate (ه ە to s.o.
s.t.h.), make (ە s.o.) write (ه s.t.h.) VI to write to
each other, exch<strong>an</strong>ge letters, keep up a
correspondence VII to subscribe VIII to write ( ه
s.t.h.); to copy (ه s.t.h.), make a copy (ه <strong>of</strong> s.t.h.);
to enter one’s name; to subscribe (ل for); to
contribute, subscribe (ل ب money to); to be
entered, be recorded, be registered X to ask (ە s.o.)
to write (ه s.t.h.); to dictate (ه ە to s.o. s.t.h.), make
(ە s.o.) write (ه s.t.h.); to have a copy made (ە by
s.o.)
بﺎﺘﻛ kitāb pl. ﺐﺘﻛ
butuk
piece <strong>of</strong> writing, record, paper; letter, note,
message; document, deed; contract (esp. marriage
contract); book; بﺎتﻜﻟا the Kor<strong>an</strong>; the Bible | بﺎتﻜﻟا ﻞﻫا
ahl al-k. the people <strong>of</strong> the Book, the adherents <strong>of</strong>
a revealed religion, the kitabis, i.e., Christi<strong>an</strong>s <strong>an</strong>d
Jews; جاوﺰﻟا بﺎﺘﻛ k. azzawāj marriage contract; قﻼﻄﻟا
بﺎﺘﻛ k. aṭ-ṭalāq bill <strong>of</strong> divorce; ﻰﳰﻠﻌﺗ بﺎﺘﻛ (ta’limi)
textbook; دﻋ بﺎﺘﻛ credentials (dipl.); ﺐتﻜﻟاراد library
ﱮﺘﻛ kutubi pl. –ya bookseller, bookdealer
I
Root word
Form
Derivation word
Word pronunciation
*others are the me<strong>an</strong>ing
faʻala َﻞَﻌَﻓ
II fa’’ala َﻞﱠﻌَﻓ
III fāʻala َﻞَﻋﺎَﻓ
IV ʼafʻala َﻞ َﻌْﻓَﺍ
V tafaʻʻala َﻞﱠﻌَﻔَﺗ
VI tafāʻala َﻞَﻋﺎَﻔَﺗ
VII infaʻala َﻞَﻌَﻔ ْﻧِﺍ
VIII iftaʻala َﻞَﻌَﺘْﻓِﺍ
IX ifʻalla َﻞ َﻌْﻓﺍ
X istafʻala َﻞَﻌْﻔَﺘْﺳِﺍ
Figure 1: H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr dictionary entry [6]

gives the adv<strong>an</strong>tage <strong>of</strong> more information given besides the
me<strong>an</strong>ing, <strong>an</strong>d the user will underst<strong>an</strong>d better on how to use the
word with the correct grammar. Under a given root, the
sequence <strong>of</strong> entry is as shown in Figure 1 [6].
C. Problems related to paper based dictionary “editorial
dictionary”
Even the dictionary is arr<strong>an</strong>ged according to the root word,
the user need to extract the root word which may be sometimes
difficult or impossible for non Arab learners. Therefore, in the
proposed framework, the system will m<strong>an</strong>age the connectivity
between every word <strong>an</strong>d its root word internally.
Users usually concern about the time taken to know the
exact me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> a word or in other word, need the information
in <strong>an</strong> easiest <strong>an</strong>d fastest form. Other user may prefer to know
more information related to the word. Thus, the proposed
system maintains the response time, simplicity <strong>an</strong>d more
detailed in information allocation.
III. RELATED WORK
Nowadays, the work in electronic dictionaries is going very
fast <strong>an</strong>d there is a great effort spent on the implementation <strong>of</strong>
electronic dictionaries. The most popular examples; the
Interactive <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>Dictionary</strong> on the web (IAD) is sponsored
by King Abdul-Azziz City for Sciences <strong>an</strong>d Technology
(KACST) [7], <strong>an</strong>d the Arab League Educational Cultural <strong>an</strong>d
Scientific Org<strong>an</strong>ization (ALECSO) [8] with the cooperation
with linguists <strong>an</strong>d scholars from Higher Institute for Applied
Sciences <strong>an</strong>d Technology (HIAST) [9]. These implementations
are great <strong>an</strong>d well established interactive <strong>Arabic</strong> to <strong>Arabic</strong>
dictionary [10] that c<strong>an</strong> satisfy the needs <strong>of</strong> Arab learners. They
involved linguistics specialists <strong>an</strong>d scholars as well as
computer researchers to achieve that great implementation.
Currently, <strong>an</strong> online version <strong>of</strong> the dictionary is available on
the internet while at the same time their work is still going on.
Instead, there is Sakhr [11] that provide a tr<strong>an</strong>slation system
from <strong>Arabic</strong> to several other l<strong>an</strong>guages, <strong>an</strong>d m<strong>an</strong>y researchers
in the field <strong>of</strong> designing <strong>an</strong> <strong>Electronic</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> Dictionaries [2,
5, 12, 13]. Furthermore, Albaheth Alarabi[14] represents a rich
<strong>Arabic</strong> to <strong>Arabic</strong> dictionary. It extracts the me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the
<strong>Arabic</strong> word from different famous dictionaries such as Lis<strong>an</strong>u
Alarab , Algamous Almoheet <strong>an</strong>d Alsahah.
IV. IMPLEMENTATION METHODOLOGY
A. Operational Mech<strong>an</strong>isms
The operational mech<strong>an</strong>ism is shown in Figure 2. As a first
step, a user needs to open the system either from the computer
or online from the dictionary website. Then, the system will
ask the user to enter <strong>an</strong>y word. The user needs to make sure
that the entered word is a correct word. If not, the system will
give some suggestions word to be chosen.
If the word is a correct word, the system will display the
me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the word <strong>an</strong>d asks the user whether he or she needs
other information related to this word such as derivative words.
If so, the system will display the derivative words with their
corresponding me<strong>an</strong>ing. Furthermore, the system will also
530
display the alternative me<strong>an</strong>ings <strong>of</strong> the words when it is
compounded with other words.
No
start
Open the web site or
the installed s<strong>of</strong>tware
Enter <strong>an</strong>y <strong>Arabic</strong> word to get
the me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>an</strong>d other related
information
Correct
word?
Yes
Display the me<strong>an</strong>ing as well as
pronunciation; ask the user for the
interest <strong>of</strong> getting more information
such as
(root, derivative, <strong>an</strong>d examples)
Need to look for
derivative words?
Yes
Display root, derivative <strong>an</strong>d
examples <strong>of</strong> the word with
their corresponding me<strong>an</strong>ing
<strong>an</strong>d pronunciation
Display <strong>an</strong> error message
<strong>an</strong>d give suggestion for
the correct word
Figure 2: Operational Framework <strong>of</strong> the Proposed <strong>Dictionary</strong>
B. The internal structure <strong>of</strong> the tables
The main feature <strong>of</strong> this implementation is platform
independent. It has been implemented using open source code,
MySQL for the dictionary database <strong>an</strong>d PHP for the web based
interface. It also c<strong>an</strong> be easily modified, maintained, <strong>an</strong>d
upgraded since it is based on open source code.
It consists <strong>of</strong> two main tables; the first table is the
word_me<strong>an</strong>ing table which represents all <strong>Arabic</strong> words with
their corresponding me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>an</strong>d related information (i.e. root,
derivatives <strong>an</strong>d pronunciation), while, the second table
represents the compounded_word_me<strong>an</strong>ing, which deals with
the expl<strong>an</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> the word me<strong>an</strong>ing when it comes in a
compounded form. The data dictionary <strong>of</strong> those tables as well
as examples <strong>of</strong> content data are shown in tables 2 to table 5
respectively.
No

Table 2: Data <strong>Dictionary</strong> <strong>of</strong> word_me<strong>an</strong>ing Table
Column Name Data Type Length Comments
Word_ID Number 6 Primay-Key
Word Char 50
Me<strong>an</strong>ing Char 70
Pron Char 70
Root_ID Number 6 Refence to word me<strong>an</strong>ing (Word_ID) Self
join in (1:N) form
Table 3: Snapshot <strong>of</strong> the contents <strong>of</strong> (word_me<strong>an</strong>ing) table
Word ID word me<strong>an</strong>ing Pron/ or it c<strong>an</strong> be recorded sound Root ID
19 ﻡﻬﻓ Underst<strong>an</strong>d fahima 19
22 ﺏﻛﺭ Ride rakiba 22
25 ﺏﺗﻛ Write kataba 25
29 ﺏﻛﺭﻣ Boat morkab 22
30 ﺏﺗﺎﻛ Clerk katib 25
32 ﺏﺎﺗﻛ Book kitab 25
33 ﻡﺎﻬﻔﺗﺳﺍ question mark istifham 19
34 ﻲﻣﻬﻓ name (male) fahmi 19
46 ﺏﺗﻛﻣ Office maktab 25
Word_ID is the primary key in the table “word_me<strong>an</strong>ing”
but become the foreign key in table “compounded word
me<strong>an</strong>ing” in a relationship <strong>of</strong> one-to-m<strong>an</strong>y. Then, Root_ID is
the internal foreign key <strong>an</strong>d it is the unique value <strong>of</strong> Word_ID
that representing self join relationship <strong>of</strong> one-to-m<strong>an</strong>y between
the Root_ID <strong>an</strong>d the Word_ID. When the Root_ID is same
with Word_ID (Root_ID = WORD_ID), its me<strong>an</strong> that the word
is a root word. Thus, if someone need only the root words, it
c<strong>an</strong> be achieved by simple query according to the above
condition.
Table 4 Data <strong>Dictionary</strong> <strong>of</strong> compounded_word_me<strong>an</strong>ing Table
Column Name Data Type Length Comments
Example_ID Number 6 Primay-Key
Word_ID Number 6 Refence to word me<strong>an</strong>ing (Word_ID)
Example Var Char 100
Example me<strong>an</strong>ing Var Char 100
Table 5: Snapshot <strong>of</strong> the contents <strong>of</strong> (Compounded_word_me<strong>an</strong>ing) Table
Example_ID Word_ID Example Example_me<strong>an</strong>ing
1 46 ﺩﻳﺭﺑﻟﺍ ﺏﺗﻛﻣ post <strong>of</strong>fice
2 46 ﺕﺎﻳﺭﻔﺳﻟﺍ ﺏﺗﻛﻣ travel agency
3 32 ﺝﺍﻭﺯﻟﺍ ﺏﺎﺗﻛ marriage contract
Figure 3 represents <strong>an</strong> example <strong>of</strong> a user seeking for the
me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the word ﺏﺎﺘﻛ in the ‘Input Interface’. Figure 4
shows the quick output <strong>an</strong>d more options output. Figure 5
shows the detail output interface if the user chooses second(2)
option as in the Figure 4.
Figure 3: The Input Interface
531
1. You entered the word: ﺏﺎﺘﻛ
which me<strong>an</strong>s: book
2. Click here to get some options such as 'root'
'prononcation' <strong>an</strong>d 'derivation' 'example for
expl<strong>an</strong>ing the me<strong>an</strong>ing.
3.or Please Click here to search for <strong>an</strong>other word
Figure 4: Quick <strong>an</strong>d simplified output
Welcome , you entered the word :ﺏﺎﺘﻛ !
which me<strong>an</strong>s: book
The family words <strong>of</strong> the word ﺏﺎﺘﻛ starting with the root
word are as follows:
ﺐﺘﻛ
which me<strong>an</strong>s....... write ......<strong>an</strong>d prononcation is...... : kataba
Example : ..... ﻪﺑﺎﺘﻛ ﺐﺘﻛ
which me<strong>an</strong>s......... to draw up the marriage contract
ﺐﺗﺎﻛ
which me<strong>an</strong>s....... clerk .........<strong>an</strong>d prononcation is........ : katib
ﺏﺎﺘﻛ
which me<strong>an</strong>s....... book .......<strong>an</strong>d prononcation is.......... : kitab
Example : ..... ﺝﺍﻭﺰﻟﺍ ﺏﺎﺘﻛ
which me<strong>an</strong>s.......... marriage contract
ﺔﺑﺎﺘﻜﻟﺍ
which me<strong>an</strong>s.......... writting ..........<strong>an</strong>d prononcation is..........
: alkitabah
ﺐﺘﻜﻣ
which me<strong>an</strong>s.......... <strong>of</strong>fice ..........<strong>an</strong>d prononcation is.......... :
maktab
Example : ..... ﺪﻳﺮﺒﻟﺍ ﺐﺘﻜﻣ
which me<strong>an</strong>s.......... post <strong>of</strong>fice
ﺔﺒﺘﻜﻣ
which me<strong>an</strong>s.......... library ..........<strong>an</strong>d prononcation is.......... :
maktabah
Please click here for more information regarding synonyms
<strong>an</strong>d oposite words <strong>of</strong> ﺏﺎﺘﻛ
Figure 5: Detail output interface
The main goal <strong>of</strong> this system is to serve <strong>an</strong>d encourage the
<strong>Arabic</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage learners from different levels. Therefore, the
structure <strong>of</strong> the system is designed not to rely only on the root
word as a keyword to search. It also concerns about the
relationship between root word <strong>an</strong>d its corresponding
derivative words which is highly considered as <strong>an</strong> import<strong>an</strong>t
structure to enh<strong>an</strong>ce the skills <strong>of</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> learners[15]. Thus, this
system is very signific<strong>an</strong>t in the aspect <strong>of</strong>:
1. The structure has been designed to consider the
relationship <strong>of</strong> the root <strong>an</strong>d derivative words as one
family which is very import<strong>an</strong>t for deep underst<strong>an</strong>ding
<strong>of</strong> grammatical issues <strong>an</strong>d its strength the relationship
among the family words
2. It avoids the restriction <strong>of</strong> relying on the root word as a
main keyword for search, which, most <strong>of</strong> the time,
makes the l<strong>an</strong>guage learning a difficult process. As a
result, it is discouraging new <strong>Arabic</strong> learners <strong>an</strong>d
reduce the number <strong>of</strong> learners by putting a barrier
between them <strong>an</strong>d the l<strong>an</strong>guage. This make the learners
assume that <strong>Arabic</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage is a difficult l<strong>an</strong>guage
which is actually not true.

3. The framework also c<strong>an</strong> be adapted to serve other
l<strong>an</strong>guages <strong>an</strong>d specific areas such as medical, chemical
or the terms in special educational stage in the form <strong>of</strong>
special dictionaries.
V. DISCUSSION
A. Collection <strong>an</strong>d Arr<strong>an</strong>gement Approaches Related to
<strong>Arabic</strong> Dictionaries
A.1 Collection
The idea <strong>of</strong> arr<strong>an</strong>gement has been done after a deep thought
<strong>of</strong> the arr<strong>an</strong>gement approaches in H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr [6] <strong>an</strong>d Almujm
Alwaseet[15] dictionaries. For future, the collection will be
covering all <strong>Arabic</strong> vocabularies based on Lis<strong>an</strong>u Alarb[16] ,
Alaeen [17] , Almujm Alwaseet, Almonjid[18] <strong>an</strong>d other
dictionaries. Me<strong>an</strong>while, the me<strong>an</strong>ing will be searched from
other <strong>Arabic</strong> to English dictionaries in addition to reliable
tr<strong>an</strong>slation publishers. Furthermore, suggestion from specialist
in tr<strong>an</strong>slation will be taken into consideration <strong>an</strong>d accordingly
enh<strong>an</strong>cement will be done after proving <strong>of</strong> usefulness.
A.2 Arr<strong>an</strong>gement
The main idea in this research is, all words are arr<strong>an</strong>ge
alphabetically but whenever you search for a word, you c<strong>an</strong>
easily find the root <strong>of</strong> the word combined with the derivative
words (in this research derivative words is referred to as family
words). The dictionary will give the me<strong>an</strong>ing directly.
Furthermore, for the family words if you w<strong>an</strong>t to know more
information, the system c<strong>an</strong> also display the family words with
the corresponding me<strong>an</strong>ing.
This arr<strong>an</strong>gement is applied because when a paper-form is
arr<strong>an</strong>ged based on root word, there will be a difficulty when
search for the me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> non-root word. The learner needs to
get the root word <strong>of</strong> the required word, then after that search
alphabetically for the word inside the page <strong>of</strong> the root word.
This process is quit tedious <strong>an</strong>d it discourages the l<strong>an</strong>guage
learner especially the beginners.
Due to this reason, this system approaches the user with a
simple process. By entering <strong>an</strong>y word, the system will
automatically produce the me<strong>an</strong>ing which “most likely it is the
import<strong>an</strong>t need <strong>of</strong> the learner”. Moreover, to improve the
learner’s skills, the system provides the root <strong>of</strong> the word with
the corresponding me<strong>an</strong>ing as well as a link to the derivative
words for those who are interested in more details.
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Fully featured electronic dictionaries are much needed not
only for non-native speakers, but also for native speakers to
keep them more updated with non-daily used terms. Besides,
electronic dictionaries are urgently needed for second l<strong>an</strong>guage
acquisition.
In spite <strong>of</strong> religious <strong>an</strong>d academic, now it is recognized that
<strong>Arabic</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage is becoming commercial in Malaysia [5].
Therefore, the development <strong>of</strong> electronic module as a tool <strong>of</strong>
reference is really needed as a way to improve the information
sharing [6].
532
In this paper, a framework for <strong>an</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong>-to-English
dictionary has been designed, implemented <strong>an</strong>d tested using
sample data from H<strong>an</strong>s Wehr <strong>Dictionary</strong>.
The project keeps the idea <strong>of</strong> arr<strong>an</strong>gement based on root
word as well as tying the root word with its derivative words as
one family for the propose <strong>of</strong> enh<strong>an</strong>cing the skills <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Arabic</strong>
l<strong>an</strong>guage learner, since <strong>Arabic</strong> l<strong>an</strong>guage has been described to
be as a derivative l<strong>an</strong>guage.
The framework has been designed online <strong>an</strong>d portable
“platform independent” since it has been implemented using
PhP <strong>an</strong>d MySQL. Furthermore, the framework is not restricted
to a specific type <strong>of</strong> dictionary; it c<strong>an</strong> be easily used for several
l<strong>an</strong>guages using <strong>Arabic</strong> as <strong>an</strong> input l<strong>an</strong>guage. Moreover, the
vocabulary <strong>of</strong> the dictionary c<strong>an</strong> be updated using special entry
form. Since the implementation is based on table look up, the
testing accuracy will be 100% if the requested word is existing.
The same implementation c<strong>an</strong> be modified to serve as
dictionary from <strong>Arabic</strong> to other l<strong>an</strong>guages such as Malay,
Chinese <strong>an</strong>d India by just ch<strong>an</strong>ging the output l<strong>an</strong>guage.
Furthermore, special purpose dictionaries c<strong>an</strong> be also made
based on this dictionary such as Qur<strong>an</strong>ic, Medical,
Engineering, biological <strong>an</strong>d other specific field <strong>of</strong> study.
To achieve the goal <strong>of</strong> fully featured <strong>Arabic</strong> electronic
dictionary, the future guidelines <strong>of</strong> this research c<strong>an</strong> be
summarized as follows:
• Provide Synonyms <strong>an</strong>d Opposite <strong>of</strong> the words, <strong>an</strong>d
Automatic Guessing <strong>an</strong>d suggestion <strong>of</strong> the required
words if the user is missed typed the required word.
This dictionary system also c<strong>an</strong> be integrated with text
editors (i.e. Micros<strong>of</strong>t word, Adobe Readers) to get
the me<strong>an</strong>ing whenever the mouse is pointing to the
word.
• Using the dictionary for as a database for spell
checking “since it includes all the words”
• Automatic word pronunciation while reading text.
• Considering tashkeel in <strong>an</strong> electronic dictionary
(different harakat leads to different me<strong>an</strong>ing for some
words).
• <strong>Implementation</strong> <strong>of</strong> the current <strong>an</strong>d enh<strong>an</strong>ced system
for a smart phones (i.e. IPhone).
• Enh<strong>an</strong>ce the content <strong>of</strong> the dictionary to be as a visual,
audible dictionary as well as supporting visual
ontology relationship representation.
• Putting simple grammatical comments for the
required words (i.e.: v for verb, n for nouns, etc)
• Normally, for people to underst<strong>an</strong>d such sentence;
they need to know the me<strong>an</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> words via
dictionaries. If the sentence is constructed from much
complex words, that me<strong>an</strong>s the user need to know
m<strong>an</strong>y words at the same time. Thus, the dictionary is
needed to support back <strong>an</strong>d forward checking <strong>of</strong>
me<strong>an</strong>ings. Therefore, forward <strong>an</strong>d back button
features need to be put for the user to move between
recently accessed words in convenient way.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the Malaysi<strong>an</strong>
Ministry <strong>of</strong> Higher Education (MOHE) <strong>an</strong>d Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia for the research gr<strong>an</strong>t (FRGS Vot number
68262 <strong>an</strong>d GUP Vot number 04.J55) for the support given, as
well as Sud<strong>an</strong> University <strong>of</strong> Science <strong>an</strong>d Technology for their
cooperation
REFERENCES:
[1] H. Ma, et al., "Adaptive <strong>an</strong>alysis <strong>an</strong>d processing <strong>of</strong> structured
multilingual documents," 2006.
[2] N. El Abbadi, et al., "Build <strong>Electronic</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> Lexicon."
ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟﺍ ﺔﻴﺳﻮﻣﺎﻘﻟﺍ ﺔﺑﺮﺠﺘﻟﺍ .( 2008)
.ﺪﻴﺒﻋ .ﺍ .ﻉ .ﺩ
. 1967 ,ﺔّﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟﺍ ﺔﻐﻠﻟﺍ ﻊﻤﺠﻣ,"
ed: ّﻲﺨﻳﺭﺎﺘﻟﺍ ّﻱﻮﻐﻠﻟﺍ ﻢﺠﻌﻤﻟﺍ" ,ﺮﺸﻴﻓ .ﺃ [ 4]
[5] S. N. Bilmas, "Development <strong>of</strong> <strong>an</strong> electronic arabic dictionary," 2009.
[6] H. Wehr <strong>an</strong>d J. M. Cow<strong>an</strong>, A dictionary <strong>of</strong> modern written
<strong>Arabic</strong>:(Arab.-Engl.): O. Harrassowitz, 1979.
[7] KACST. (2011). King Abdul-Azziz City for Sciences <strong>an</strong>d Technology.
[8] C. Arab League Educational, "Scientific Org<strong>an</strong>ization
[9]
[ALECSO].(2008)," A Pl<strong>an</strong> for the development <strong>of</strong> education in the
Arab countries.
HIAST, "Higher Institute <strong>of</strong> Applied Science <strong>an</strong>d Technology," 2011.
[ 3]
533
[10] G. Rebdawi, et al., "An Interactive <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>Dictionary</strong>," in Innovations in
Information Technology (IIT), 2011 International Conference on, 2011,
pp. 83-86.
[11] A. Chalabi, "Sakhr <strong>Arabic</strong>-English computer-aided tr<strong>an</strong>slation system,"
Machine Tr<strong>an</strong>slation <strong>an</strong>d the Information Soup, pp. 518-521, 1998.
[12] M. Hajjar, et al., "An Improved Structured <strong>an</strong>d Progressive <strong>Electronic</strong>
<strong>Dictionary</strong> for the <strong>Arabic</strong> L<strong>an</strong>guage: iSPEDAL," in Internet <strong>an</strong>d Web
Applications <strong>an</strong>d Services (ICIW), 2010 Fifth International Conference
on, 2010, pp. 489-495.
[13] O. Al Dakkak <strong>an</strong>d A. Zein, "Towards <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>Electronic</strong> <strong>Dictionary</strong>,"
2008, pp. 1-6.
[14] (2011).http://www.baheth.info/.Available:
http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term=%D8%B5%D9%90%D9%84%D9
%8E%D8%A9
[15] A. o. t. A. L<strong>an</strong>guage, Al-Mu'jam al-Wasseet: Majma'al-Lughah al-
'Arabiyah, 1985.
[16] İ. M<strong>an</strong>zûr, "Lis<strong>an</strong>u’l-Arab (I-XV)," Dâru Sâdir, Beyrut, 1994.
1920 ", 1ﺝ-ﻢﺠﻌﻤﻟﺍ
ﻑﻭﺮﺣ ﻰﻠﻋ ﺎﺒﺗﺮﻣ ﻦﻴﻌﻟﺍ ﺏﺎﺘﻛ" , ﻱﻭﺍﺪﻨﻫ .ﻉ .ﺕ , ﻱﺪﻴﻫﺍﺮﻔﻟﺍ .ﺃ[17]
[18] L. M. Al-Yasooi, "Al-Munjid Al-Abjadi," The Alphabetical <strong>Dictionary</strong>,
1982.