Re: [edict-jmdict] Meaning of [iK] (irregular kanji)?

[Stuart McGraw <smcg4191@********>]

On 11/02/2011 12:52 AM, Nils Roland Barth wrote:
>[...]
> Setting aside [oK] (old) characters, we’ve 3 levels in the dict:
> (P) (preferred)
> () (nothing, ok)
> [iK] (irregular)
> (Note that normal editing can’t change (P) – that’s separate.)
> 
> My sense is:
> * If only one spelling, unmarked – it’s the one correct spelling
> * If multiple spellings and some are preferred, mark preferred with (P)
> * If multiple spellings and some are not ok, mark [iK]
> 
> …where this is decided basically as:
> * Any spellings given as head entries in one or more major dicts
>   (or consensus if debatable) are (P)

Just a comment on my interpretation of your interpretation
of the "P" tag... :-)  I think of it as "popular" and not "preferred".
It distinguishes (at least ideally) between very commonly used words
and the vast majority which are not used exceptionally commonly, across
the entire set of entries in the dictionary.
It only indirectly distinguishes between different spellings of the
same word in so far as those other spellings are not common among
all entries; commonness within a given entry is not relevant to a
spelling being tagged with a "P".)

The P tag is actually a composite derived from the other frequency-
of-use tags, ichi1-2, gai1-2, nf1-32, etc, which in turn come (mostly)
from published sources.  More details are in the "Word Priority Marking"
section of http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/edict_doc.html or in the 
comments at the top of the JMdict XML file.  So,

  > Any spellings given as head entries in one or more major dicts
  > (or consensus if debatable) are (P)

is not really true.  

As always, this is subject to correction by those knowing more
than me about it.