摘要：Croatian WordNet is a lexical database created on the principles of the Princeton WordNet. As such, it contains a complex network of lexical relations built primarily on the relations of hyperonymy / hyponymy and synonymy. Thus WordNet can be regarded as a tool by which we can represent and in turn closely examine various lexical-semantic relations of a language. However, in order to use WordNet as an analytical tool it is necessary to provide a detailed account of other lexical relations such as polysemy and also design the database in accord with the interactions various lexical relations have with each other. In this paper we strongly emphasize the role WordNet can have in the study of complex lexical sematic relations of a lexicon as a whole and show the methodological prerequisites that must be fulfilled in order to achieve this goal. We focus on the relations of synonymy and polysemy and their interaction in the structuring of the lexicon of the Croatian language. We show the similarities and differences between nominal and verbal polysemous structures and the ways these can be represented in the Croatian WordNet. We also show how certain methodological inconsistencies as pertaining to the original Princeton WordNet were corrected in the building of the Croatian WordNet.
关键词：lexicology; lexicography; WordNet; lexical semantic structure; synonymy; polysemy; Craotian language
