Word sense disambiguation in Bengali: A knowledge based approach using Bengali WordNet

Abstract

In this paper, a knowledge based approach for Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) in Bengali language has been presented. Bengali WordNet, developed at ISI Kolkata has been used as a knowledge base and the input data set is prepared from the Bengali Text Corpus developed in the TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Language) project of the Government of India. The proposed approach resolute the exact sense of a Bengali ambiguous word based on the maximum overlap among the dictionary definitions of the ambiguous word, with its collocating words in that sentence and the synonymous words of these collocating words. The algorithm is tested on 9 (nine) mostly used Bengali ambiguous words. The accuracy of the output is achieved 75% which is verified by an expert. The challenges and the pitfalls of this approach are discussed in this report in detail.