A computational grammar and lexicon for Maltese

Figure 3.3: Searching for a wordform by substring in the computation lexicon
restriction; the database engine itself allows any regex query to be run. Any search term given
is looked for in all the wordforms in the system, or optionally in the English glosses if one one
wishes to use the lexicon for translation.
Feedback As mistakes may be made during the importation or automatic inflection processes,
it is useful to include a system for users to report any errata or omissions they may come across.
All wordforms displayed in the web application are accompanied with a small icon which can
be clicked to instantly report an entry as incorrect. These reports can then be checked manually
and corrected as necessary. Wordforms already marked as incorrect and pending review are
marked in red, as shown in figure 3.4.
Apart from reporting errors, the application also includes a system for users to suggest new
additions to the collection. This option shows up when somebody searches for a term which
produces no results. Submissions are also placed in a moderation queue which must be checked
manually by the maintainers.
3.2.3 Web service
Apart from a user interface, this web application also includes a web service to facilitate accessing
the resource from from other scripts/applications. The response format can be either JSON
or XML. The API for the web service is still considered as beta and will likely change if/when
the web service begins to be used by other developers.
3.2.4 Issues
Loading data
Even with no joins, loading large amounts of data can sometimes be slow, especially over a
network. To improve the user experience, the loading of data is often performed asynchronously
within the application. This does not decrease the total amount of time required (it may
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