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Der ästhetische Sprachgebrauch in Epik, Lyrik und Fachliteratur

Metaphern und Phraseologismen mit der Mittelhochdeutschen Begriffsdatenbank (MHDBDB) finden
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Abstract

The “Middle-High German Conceptual Database / Mittelhochdeutsche Begriffsdatenbank” (MHDBDB) is a cornerstone in medieval German studies, having served as an essential tool for scholars over the last five decades. Having originated in the 1970s and having evolved from punch cards to a sophisticated graph database, the MHDBDB enables complex searches across a corpus of over 10.6 million tokens, encompassing nearly 29,000 word entries. This study explores the database’s applicability in analyzing metaphorical language and phraseology within medieval texts. The integration of controlled vocabularies and ontologies facilitates a nuanced semantic analysis, addressing challenges in the disambiguation and the interpretation of metaphorical language. The paper also discusses the limitations of digital text technologies in capturing the full semantic complexity of literary texts, while highlighting the database’s potential for advancing research in Digital Humanities. By use of practical examples drawn from the imagery of “honey and bees”, the study demonstrates how the MHDBDB can uncover intricate patterns of aesthetic language use and thus offer new insights into the linguistic and cultural context of the Middle Ages.

Abstract

The “Middle-High German Conceptual Database / Mittelhochdeutsche Begriffsdatenbank” (MHDBDB) is a cornerstone in medieval German studies, having served as an essential tool for scholars over the last five decades. Having originated in the 1970s and having evolved from punch cards to a sophisticated graph database, the MHDBDB enables complex searches across a corpus of over 10.6 million tokens, encompassing nearly 29,000 word entries. This study explores the database’s applicability in analyzing metaphorical language and phraseology within medieval texts. The integration of controlled vocabularies and ontologies facilitates a nuanced semantic analysis, addressing challenges in the disambiguation and the interpretation of metaphorical language. The paper also discusses the limitations of digital text technologies in capturing the full semantic complexity of literary texts, while highlighting the database’s potential for advancing research in Digital Humanities. By use of practical examples drawn from the imagery of “honey and bees”, the study demonstrates how the MHDBDB can uncover intricate patterns of aesthetic language use and thus offer new insights into the linguistic and cultural context of the Middle Ages.

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