A novel approach to the creation of a labelling lexicon for improving emotion analysis in text
ISSN: 0264-0473
Article publication date: 8 February 2021
Issue publication date: 18 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the process used to create an emotion lexicon enriched with the emotional intensity of words and focuses on improving the emotion analysis process in texts.
Design/methodology/approach
The process includes setting, preparation and labelling stages. In the first stage, a lexicon is selected. It must include a translation to the target language and labelling according to Plutchik’s eight emotions. The second stage starts with the validation of the translations. Then, it is expanded with the synonyms of the emotion synsets of each word. In the labelling stage, the similarity of words is calculated and displayed using WordNet similarity.
Findings
The authors’ approach shows better performance to identification of the predominant emotion for the selected corpus. The most relevant is the improvement obtained in the results of the emotion analysis in a hybrid approach compared to the results obtained in a purist approach.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed lexicon can still be enriched by incorporating elements such as emojis, idioms and colloquial expressions.
Practical implications
This work is part of a research project that aids in solving problems in a digital society, such as detecting cyberbullying, abusive language and gender violence in texts or exercising parental control. Detection of depressive states in young people and children is added.
Originality/value
This semi-automatic process can be applied to any language to generate an emotion lexicon. This resource will be available in a software tool that implements a crowdsourcing strategy allowing the intensity to be re-labelled and new words to be automatically incorporated into the lexicon.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is the result of work by the SOMOS research group (SOftware – MOdelling – Science), funded by the Dirección de Investigación and Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales of the Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chile. The authors thank the Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Chile.
Citation
Segura Navarrete, A., Martinez-Araneda, C., Vidal-Castro, C. and Rubio-Manzano, C. (2021), "A novel approach to the creation of a labelling lexicon for improving emotion analysis in text", The Electronic Library, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 118-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-04-2020-0110
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited