One Lexicon, Two Structures: So What Gives?

International audienceWe present a reinterpretation of lexical information embedded in the English WordNet in an alternate type of structure called "lexical system." First, we characterize lexical systems as graphs of lexical units (word senses) connected mainly by Meaning-Text lexical function relations, then introduce a hand-built lexical system: the French Lexical Network or fr-LN, a lexical resource that implements a new lexicography of virtual dictionaries. We later explain how a corresponding en-LN has been generated from the English WordNet. Finally, we propose a topological contrastive analysis of the two graphs showing that both structures can be characterized as being Hierarchical Small World Networks