Structures of semantic networks: how do we learn semantic knowledge

摘要

Global semantic structures of two large semantic networks, HowNet and WordNet, are analyzed. It is found that they are both complex networks with features of small-world and scale-free, but with special properties. Exponents of power law degree distribution of these two networks are between 1. 0 and 2. 0, different from most scale-free networks which have exponents near 3. 0. Coefficients of degree correlation are lower than 0, similar to biological networks. The BA (Barabasi-Albert) model and other similar models cannot explain their dynamics. Relations between clustering coefficient and node degree obey scaling law, which suggests that there exist self-similar hierarchical structures in networks. The results suggest that structures of semantic networks are influenced by the ways we learn semantic knowledge such as aggregation and metaphor.