Controlled Vocabulary Qualifier

A Controlled Vocabulary Qualifier is a defining term in a Controlled Vocabulary that is used to control ambiguity of homographs.

• AKA: Qualified Term.
• Context:
  • It is usual defined as a Parenthetical Qualifier.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • Parenthetical Qualifier such as:
    • Mecury (planet),
    • mercury (metal),
    • crane (birds),
    • crane (lifting equipment).
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Grammatical Qualifier,
  • a Compound Term,
  • a Scope Note,
  • a Provisional Term.
• See: Vocabullary, Term, Qualification, Abbreviation, Acronym, Controlled Terminology, Indexing Language.

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References

2007

• (Fayen, E.G.) ⇒ Emily Gallup Fayen (2007). "Guidelines for the construction, format, and management of monolingual controlled vocabularies : A revision of ANSI/NISO Z39.19 for the 21st century".
  • QUOTE: A defining term, used in a controlled vocabulary to distinguish homographs. A qualifier is considered part of a term, subject heading, or entry term, but is separated from it by punctuation. The qualifier is generally enclosed in parentheses. Example: Mercury (metal)(...)

    Rules for using qualifiers:

    • a) A compound term should be used instead of a single-word term with a parenthetical qualifier, if usage permits, i.e., if the compound occurs in natural language.

      Example 7: Compound terms rather than qualifiers

      • phonograph records rather than records (phonograph)
      • religious tolerance rather than tolerance (religion)

        NOTE: In both of these examples, compound terms are natural expressions that can be selected for controlled vocabularies in the fields of music and religion, respectively.

    • b) A qualifier should be added to each homograph, even when one is used in the primary sense of the domain and the second in a different sense. For example, cranes (lifting equipment) should be the term in an engineering controlled vocabulary that also includes cranes (birds).
    • c) A homograph's parenthetical qualifier may be left out when a term is used in only one of its meanings within a given controlled vocabulary domain and the meaning is obvious to users within that domain. However, if the vocabulary will be used across domains, e.g. in a multidisciplinary retrieval system, the qualifier should be included as it facilitates cross-database searching and mapping of terms in disparate domains.

      Example 8: Qualifiers indicating domain

      • developing (photography)
      • organism (philosophy)
      • translation (genetics)
    • d) Parenthetical qualifiers should not be used to represent compound concepts, e.g., cookery (zucchini) or pipes (plastic). Plastic is used in the latter example to indicate a type of pipe rather than to disambiguate the word "pipe". Appropriate uses of qualifiers with the term pipes would be: pipes (musical instruments) and pipes (smoking implements). (See section 7 for guidelines on formulating compound terms.)

      e) The qualifier itself may be a term, often a broader term than the one being qualified. It should be as brief as possible, ideally consisting of one word, but should not be a homograph.

    • f) Qualifiers should be standardized within a given controlled vocabulary to the extent possible, e.g., biology and bioscience should not both be used as qualifiers.
    • g) A qualifier is not a scope note. However, a qualified term may have a scope note appended to it. For guidelines on scope notes, see section 6.2.2.
    • h) Qualifiers should also be added to entry terms when their meaning is ambiguous.

      Example 9: Qualifiers to distinguish ambiguous homographs.

      • cranes (birds)
      • cranes (lifting equipment)
      • mercury (metal)
      • Mercury (planet)
      • Mercury (Roman deity)

2005

• (ANSI Z39.19, 2005) ⇒ ANSI. (2005). “ANSI/NISO Z39.19 - Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies." ANSI.
  • QUOTE: qualifier A defining term, used in a controlled vocabulary to distinguish homographs. A qualifier is considered part of a term, subject heading, or entry term, but is separated from it by punctuation. The qualifier is generally enclosed in parentheses. Example: Mercury (metal) See also gloss.

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