Creating and Editing Lexical Items

To create a new lexical item, select one or more themes from the theme list that you want the item to be linked to. If a relevant theme doesn't exist then select [All] or [Unassigned] in the theme list so that no themes will be linked. Next, go to the Edit menu and select New Lexical Item or simply click the + button underneath the lexical item list. Either action causes a new item to be created and displayed in the right side of the window.  You will automatically enter edit mode. Notice that the Edit button located at the bottom of the window is selected to reflect this.

Now, fill in the lexical item data as desired. There are numerous fields that can contain information about the item, but typically only 3 of them are actually required:

  • Item text (i.e. the text you want to learn)
  • Lexical type (whether it's noun, verb, adjective, etc)
  • Definition

Notice that the lexical type always defaults to the very first one so be sure to change this if necessary. The remaining fields are as follows:

  • Pronunciation
  • Root (a link to an existing lexical item)
  • Themes (links to existing themes)
  • Synonyms (bi-directional links to existing items)
  • Antonyms (bi-directional links to existing items)
  • Phonetically similar items(bi-directional links to existing items)
  • Related items (links to existing items)
  • Comments
  • Personal Examples that show how to use the item text in context.
  • Active status (new items default to active)
  • Difficulty rating (shown by a gauge on the lower right)
  • Alternate Definition (shown only if they are activated)
  • Gender (only if defined for the lexical type, sometimes required)
  • Lexical Class (only if defined for the lexical type, sometimes required)
  • Conjugations (only if defined for the lexical type)

Click the Edit button again to exit edit mode or begin editing a different item by selecting it in the lexical item list. Either action will cause the program to save the edited item as long as a similar item doesn't already exist. A similar item is one that has the same item text and is assigned the same lexical type. If such an item is found then you will not be allowed to continue until you change the item text or lexical type or you decide to delete the new item altogether.