While it may be the case that some single word new words arise and need
definition, I would suggest that most of them will be multiword units.
HpaB is probably an abbreviation for a longer MWU. While some of the
definition seeking behavior evolving in the TREC QA track is certainly
relevant, that is not "defining" in the lexicographical sense.
An important useful first step these days is the use of the Google
'define' operator to pick whatever formal definitions might exist.
Next, one can Google "HpaB is" and get a whole range of answers.
But, creating new definitions is the more interesting part of the
problem, particularly with MWUs. For this, I would suggest the work of
OntoLearn (Velardi and Navigli). There was a recent article in
Computational Linguistics, and they have several other papers which
describe algorithms for inducing definitions. Keep an eye out for
further progress from them.
Ken
-- Ken Litkowski TEL.: 301-482-0237 CL Research EMAIL: ken@clres.com 9208 Gue Road Damascus, MD 20872-1025 USA Home Page: http://www.clres.com
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