MINIMUM VOCABULARIES IN INFORMATION INDEXING
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Pages | 179-196 |
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026429 |
| Author | R. MOSS |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
THE
Journal of
Documentation
VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3 SEPTEMBER 1967
MINIMUM VOCABULARIES IN
INFORMATION INDEXING
R. MOSS
Library, University of Bradford
Words have no precision, though in information storage and retrieval we
are required to act as if they did. We have, therefore, to impose certain
arbitrary conditions to reduce the element of personal interpretation.
'Meaning' must be removed from the indexing stage to that of vocabulary
construction. Vocabularies can be reduced to a minimum, first to a core
of terms used in a specialist science, and, following Russell, ultimately to
undefined terms symbolic of sense experience. 'Basic English' has shown
similar minimizing to be feasible for a natural language. The success of
Batten cards shows that the principle could be equally applicable to
specialist indexing vocabularies.
Everything said in a science can be said by means of the words in a mini-
mum vocabulary. BERTRAND RUSSELL, Human knowledge1
VOCABULARIES are collections of words, generally though not always
selected for some particular purpose. The most common examples are the
lists of foreign word equivalents in language text books. Words may be
spoken or written. In library work we have been concerned mainly with
the written word. The written word is an attempt to overcome limitations
of space or passage of time in making contact between individuals. It is an
expression of faith that what
is
written will be of use to others or at any rate
bring reward to authors.
In information work,
a
greater element of the spoken word
is
being intro-
duced, since this is a much faster, though less permanent, method of com-
munication. In both library and information work, however, there is a
tendency to forget that much of what
is
known never gets into print because
of lack of time in setting it down, because publication
is
not always certain,
because people hesitate to commit themselves, and because, perhaps most
fortunately, of sheer human inertia.
179
JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION Vol.
23,
no. 3
The use of language, whether spoken or written, is to convey or com-
municate 'thoughts', 'ideas', and 'knowledge', none of which can be satis-
factorily defined. There is in language not only a factual element, but also
an 'emotion' or 'feeling'. In scientific work we are not or ought not to be
concerned with these last although the much sought-after or elusive 'style'
in technical and indeed all writing has some affinity with emotion or 'art'.
Thus,
the science with which information workers deal is never entirely
scientific.
SIGNS
The basic forms of human communication—giving and receiving informa-
tion—are speech and
signs.
Written words are marks or
signs.
'Words are
a
particular case of
signs2.'
Because we are so familiar with them, we do not
think of them
as signs
but
this is
what they
are.
(They
also
require
some
form
of supporting surface or
storage).
Particular signs—letters of the alphabet-
correspond to particular sounds except in English where we are still arguing
about
it.
Very different marks or signs can convey the same ideas
as a
glance
at European (Roman), Arabic, and Japanese alphabets will show.
Speech
is
variable. Signs point. Written language
is a
combination of the
two.
Signs give written language a somewhat greater precision than the
spoken word. They bring some element of constancy to what was previ-
ously largely, though not entirely, variable—the grammar of the language
also gives some constancy even to the spoken word.
The written or printed word is not the only form of script for speech,
though it remained so for a long time. In the last century shorthand came
into vogue for dictation in business and offices but in the present century
technical advance in the shape of the tape recorder
has
already pushed short-
hand into the background.
'Throughout almost all our life we are treating things
as
signs.
All experi-
ence,
using the word in the widest possible sense, is cither enjoyed or in-
terpreted (i.e. treated as a sign) or both, and very little of it escapes some
degree of interpretation.3
To all such signs Ogden and Richards gave the name symbols.
Symbols are intended to communicate knowledge, to show meaning,
but there
is
always
a
considerable element of uncertainty and personal inter-
pretation about this.4 The element of interpretation is markedly present at
According to Ogden and Richards,35 the first scholar to introduce a consistent theory of
signs was William of Occam, still probably the most effective operator in the widespread
pastime of scholastic knifing.
'Occam
is
best known for a maxim which
is
not to be found in
his
works, but has acquired
the name "Occam's razor". This maxim says: "Entities are not to be multiplied without
necessity". Although he did not say this, he said something which has much the same effect,
namely: "It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer." That is to say, if every-
thing in some science can be interpreted without assuming this or that hypothetical entity,
there
is
no ground for assuming it. I have myself found this
a
most useful principle in logical
analysis''36.
180
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