Aligning Word Senses in GermaNet and the DWDS Dictionary of the German Language

A comparison and alignment of lexical resources brings about considerable mutual benefits for all resources involved. For all sense distinctions that are completely parallel in two resources, such an alignment provides supporting external evidence for the validity of sense distinction and allows enriching word senses by information contained in the other resource. By contrast, for all non-matching sense distinctions, reason for revisiting and possibly revising the lexical entries in question is provided. The purpose of this paper is to compare the German wordnet GermaNet with the Digital Dictionary of the German Language (DWDS) and to align word senses in the two resources. The paper presents issues that arise in practice when such an alignment is performed and indicates the benefits that both resources will gain.