4. Search Modes#
The Swiss-AL Platform provides three search modes: Quick Search, Basic Search and Advanced Search.
4.1. Quick Search#
The Quick Search is the simplest mode which allows you to enter your search term without specifying any form of annotation or without needing to know any specialized query syntax.
With this mode, you can search for single and consecutive words. In both cases, the searching algoritm will find all word forms with which your search term(s) is associated with (see table below). The quick search is case insensitive: uppercase letters are converted to lowercase (A→a) in the background.
4.1.1. Examples in German#
Your search term |
The algoritm will search for |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
gehen |
gehe, gehst, geht, gehen, geh, ging, gingen, gegangen |
The algoritm translates your search as lemma gehen ‘to go’ and searches the full verb paradigm saved in our database. |
soziale Gerechtigkeit |
soziale Gerechtigkeit, sozialen Gerechtigkeit, sozialer Gerechtigkeit, … |
soziale Gerechtigkeit ‘social justice’: the algoritm searches for all paradigm endings for each word. |
4.1.2. Examples in French#
Your search term |
The algorithm will search for |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
aller |
vais, vas, va, allons, allez, vont, allait, allions, allé, allée, allés, allées, … |
The algorithm translates your search as the lemma aller ‘to go’ and searches for all verb forms stored in our database. |
justice sociale |
justice sociale, justice sociales, … |
justice sociale ‘social justice’: the algorithm searches for all possible grammatical forms of each word. |
4.1.3. Examples in Italian#
Your search term |
The algorithm will search for |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
andare |
vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno, andavo, andavi, andava, andavamo, andavate, andavano, andato, andata, andati, andate, … |
The algorithm translates your search as the lemma andare ‘to go’ and searches for all verb forms stored in our database. |
giustizia sociale |
giustizia sociale, giustizie sociali, … |
giustizia sociale ‘social justice’: the algorithm searches for all possible grammatical forms of each word. |
4.2. Basic Search#
The Basic Search allows you to search for terms that match exactly your search pattern (instead of searching the whole paradigm as in Quick Search) and to search for terms that start or end with a specified pattern.
You can also search for alternative terms (OR condition). With OR, you can search for texts that contain term X as well as texts that contain Y.
💡 For example, if your are looking for mentions of 2022 and 2023 with OR, you will find texts that contain 2022 and those that contain 2023. You might also find those that contain both 2023 and 2024, as the two terms might be mentioned in the same text. However, note that OR will not search only for those texts that contain both 2022 and 2023. If you are interested in finding texts that contain multiple terms of your choice in the same text, you can do it by creating a subcorpus and specifying keywords that have to appear in each text.
The Basic Search also allows you to filter by parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs). The search is case-sensitive: uppercase letters are not converted to lowercase (A→a) in the background.
Searching for consequtive words is also possible in Basic Search. In the consecutive search you can also search for parts of speech without specifying a search pattern in case the search pattern in specified for previous of following words. For example, you might search for adjectives before the terms starting with “Migration” by selecting Adjective followed by Migration.
4.2.1. Examples in German#
Option |
Part of speech |
Search term |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
exact |
any |
geht |
It searches for the term geht as you wrote it, without including the whole verb paradigm |
start |
any |
Migration |
It searches for all the terms beginning with Migration, like Migrationspolitik, Migrationshintergrund, etc. |
end |
any |
Migration |
It searches for all the terms ending with Migration, like Remigration, Emigration, Massenmigration, etc. |
exact |
noun |
Essen |
It searches for the term Essen only when it is annotated as a noun in the corpus. |
4.2.2. Examples in French#
Option |
Part of speech |
Search term |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
exact |
any |
parle |
It searches for the term parle exactly as written, without including other verb forms. |
start |
any |
écolo |
It searches for all terms starting with écolo, like écologie, écologiste, écolosceptique, etc. |
end |
any |
isme |
It searches for all terms ending with isme, like socialisme, capitalisme, futurisme, etc. |
exact |
noun |
banc |
It searches for the term banc only when it is annotated as a noun in the corpus. |
4.2.3. Examples in Italian#
Option |
Part of speech |
Search term |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
exact |
any |
parla |
It searches for the term parla exactly as written, without including other verb forms. |
start |
any |
eco |
It searches for all terms starting with eco, like ecologia, ecosistema, ecoturismo, etc. |
end |
any |
zione |
It searches for all terms ending with zione, like nazione, educazione, organizzazione, etc. |
exact |
noun |
banca |
It searches for the term banca only when it is annotated as a noun in the corpus. |
4.3. Advanced Search#
In the Advanced Search, we implement the CQP syntax. CQP is a powerful query language for searching linguistic corpora. It is designed for querying large annotated text corpora with complex conditions and linguistic annotations. CQP syntax allows for pattern matching, searching for word forms, lemmas, parts of speech, named entities and other annotations, and supports advanced linguistic queries. In the following sections, we show some of the most important, but not all features of the CQP syntax. For exploring its full capacity, see CQP Interface and Query Language Manual and The CQP Query Language Tutorial.
4.3.1. Examples in German#
Search Type |
Syntax |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
One-term search |
|
Searches for the exact word Demokratie. |
Word search using parameter |
|
Searches for the word Demokratie using the word parameter. |
Lemma search |
|
Searches for all inflected forms of the lemma Demokratie. |
Part-of-speech (PoS) search |
|
Searches for common nouns (NN), see the German PoS tagset. |
Named Entity (NER) search |
|
Searches for named entities labeled as LOC (locations). You can also specify ORG for organisations and PER for persons |
Finding a sequence of words |
|
Searches for an attributive adjective (ADJA), followed by the lemma Gesellschaft. |
Combining multiple PoS tags |
|
Searches for either an attributive adjective (ADJA) or an article (ART), followed by Gesellschaft. |
Multiple conditions in one token |
|
Searches for the lemma Essen, but only when tagged as a noun (NN). |
Negation (Excluding a specific PoS tag) |
|
Searches for gross, but only when it is not tagged as a predicative adjective or adverb (ADJD). |
Longer word sequences |
|
Searches for an article (ART), followed by an adjective (ADJA), followed by Gesellschaft. |
📌 See Tagsets for a list of German PoS tags.
4.3.2. Examples in French#
Search Type |
Syntax |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
One-term search |
|
Searches for the exact word démocratie. |
Word search using parameter |
|
Searches for the word démocratie using the word parameter. |
Lemma search |
|
Searches for all inflected forms of the lemma démocratie. |
Part-of-speech (PoS) search |
|
Searches for nouns (NOUN) in the French PoS tagset. |
Named Entity (NER) search |
|
Searches for named entities labeled as LOC (locations). You can also specify ORG for organisations and PER for persons |
Finding a sequence of words |
|
Searches for an adjective (ADJ), followed by the lemma société. |
Combining multiple PoS tags |
|
Searches for either an adjective (ADJ) or a determiner (DET), followed by société. |
Multiple conditions in one token |
|
Searches for the lemma marche, but only when tagged as a noun (NOUN). |
Negation (Excluding a specific PoS tag) |
|
Searches for grand, but only when it is not tagged as an adverb (ADV). |
Longer word sequences |
|
Searches for a determiner (DET), followed by an adjective (ADJ), followed by société. |
📌 See Tagsets for a list of French PoS tags.
4.3.3. Examples in Italian#
Search Type |
Syntax |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
One-term search |
|
Searches for the exact word democrazia. |
Word search using parameter |
|
Searches for the word democrazia using the word parameter. |
Lemma search |
|
Searches for all inflected forms of the lemma democrazia. |
Part-of-speech (PoS) search |
|
Searches for nouns (NOUN) in the Italian PoS tagset. |
Named Entity (NER) search |
|
Searches for named entities labeled as LOC (locations). You can also specify ORG for organisations and PER for persons |
Finding a sequence of words |
|
Searches for the lemma società, followed by an adjective (ADJ). |
Combining multiple PoS tags |
|
Searches for either an adjective (ADJ) or a determiner (DET), followed by società. |
Multiple conditions in one token |
|
Searches for the lemma lavoro, but only when tagged as a noun (NOUN). |
Negation (Excluding a specific PoS tag) |
|
Searches for grande, but only when it is not tagged as an adverb (ADV). |
Longer word sequences |
|
Searches for a determiner (DET), followed by an adjective (ADJ), followed by società. |
📌 See Tagsets for a list of Italian PoS tags.
4.3.4. Regular Expressions#
This CQP syntax accepts regular expressions, which act as placeholders for certain characters or combinations of characters. The following table shows the most important regular expressions and examples how to use them:
RegEx |
Meaning |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Matches any single character: |
DE: |
|
Repetition operator: The preceding character must occur at least once but can appear multiple times (up to the word boundary). Useful with |
DE: |
|
Repetition operator: The preceding character can occur any number of times, including zero (up to the word boundary). Useful with |
DE: |
|
Repetition operator: The preceding character is optional (can appear or not): |
DE: |
|
Matches either element in parentheses separately: |
DE: |
|
Matches between 0 and 3 repetitions of the preceding element. Multiple elements can be included in square brackets: |
DE: |
|
Matches any single token between search terms: |
DE: |
|
Excludes the characters in brackets after |
DE: |
|
Excludes any match for the expression after the exclamation mark. |
DE: |
|
Combines |
DE: |
|
Interprets characters literally, even if they are placeholders in CQP: |
DE: |
|
Case-insensitive search: |
DE: |