Papers › Semantic Similarity Based on Corpus Statistics and Lexical Taxonomy

Semantic Similarity Based on Corpus Statistics and Lexical Taxonomy

20 Sep 1997arXiv:cmp-lg/9709008archive 2025-07-28

Jay J. Jiang, David W. Conrath

This paper presents a new approach for measuring semantic similarity/distance between words and concepts. It combines a lexical taxonomy structure with corpus statistical information so that the semantic distance between nodes in the semantic space constructed by the taxonomy can be better quantified with the computational evidence derived from a distributional analysis of corpus data. Specifically, the proposed measure is a combined approach that inherits the edge-based approach of the edge counting scheme, which is then enhanced by the node-based approach of the information content calculation. When tested on a common data set of word pair similarity ratings, the proposed approach outperforms other computational models. It gives the highest correlation value (r = 0.828) with a benchmark based on human similarity judgements, whereas an upper bound (r = 0.885) is observed when human subjects replicate the same task.

PaperPDFCode

In Syntology Open this paper in Syntology's Atlas, the map of the papers in Syntology's graph and their citations.

Code

usc-isi-i2/kgtk-similarity mentioned on GitHub report

Repository list and official/mentioned flags are the archive's, frozen 2025-07-28. Reachability, where shown, is from one Syntology probe window (2026-09-16 to 2026-09-18); repositories not probed show nothing. GitHub stars are not tracked.

Code Syntology ran Syntology

Not run by Syntology. Nothing on this page verifies that the listed code works.

Tasks

Semantic SimilaritySemantic Textual Similarity

Results from the paper archive 2025-07-28

No leaderboard rows for this paper in the archive.

Report a problem or propose a change · a person checks every report against the paper or source before anything changes; decisions are listed on /corrections