Approach

The meaning-based database structure enables us to eliminate the need of first studying language in an inverted way, from the point of view of the linguistic realization (or the means of it). Instead we can examine language by way of the approaches it takes, the communicative intent and the message conveyed if we choose meaning as the basic unit of lexicographical analysis. Briefly, it means that the natural language indicators (either in one or more languages) are grouped around a language-independent meaning in our database, which are thus delineated and marked out from every angle. Through this the same meaning that is expressed in many ways in a given language - or in different ways within one language - can organize language(s) into a system according to their natural (overt and covert, surface and hidden) behavior, connect them to each other, as well as internally, and describe them on the basis of communication.

Languages serve the purpose of linguistic communication. Due to this fact, each linguistic indicator (from phonemes and morphemes to phraseological units and texts) has its own communicative role in which it evokes a meaning.

The information in the meaning database consequently will also shed light on the formal behavior of linguistic units - reflected by the mirror held by the meaning. Drawing upon this database as a source, and using previous research results we have also started to develop a Hungarian morphological database in a structure that correlates with that of the meaning database. Here, formal behavior serves the purpose of linguistic communication, the database also centers upon meanings, it is functional and semantically contextualizing.

In the focus of analysis we have those morphological phenomena that are the closest to differentiating between meanings, i.e., compounding, derivation, hyphenation, capitalization, but we also examine the history of morphological units insofar as it is relevant to communication, and results in or regulates modern orthography, and helps in accessing the meaning.