From an informal textual lexicon to a well-structured lexical database: an experiment in data reverse engineering

We present an experiment in data reverse engineering in the field of computational linguistics. We explain a methodology which preserves to a great extent the original input format, allowing parallel acquisition/updating of the data with processing at a more structured representation level. We motivate the use for such applications of Objective Caml, a functional programming language with strong static typing, parametric modules and meta-linguistic technology.