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

Abstract

This paper analyzes the algorithmic complexity (also known as Kolmogorov complexity or descriptive complexity) of the lemma corpus included in the Wortfamilienwörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache (WfWG) 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. Keywords: monolingual learner's dictionary, macrostructure, navigation, learnability, algorithmic complexity, compression