Re: Automatic word generation

Mad Martin wrote:

<< On Mar 20, 2004, at 1:57 PM, Aaron Morse wrote:

> The best automatic generator is LangMaker:www.langmaker.com/langmake.
> This works with windows 3.1, 95, and 98 I know to my knowledge,
> probably with others. You can input a phonology, and a lexicon, and
> get translations of up to 3000 words in a single minute.

    Are there any such programs for Macintosh?>>

I hesitate to suggest this, since it requires somehow obtaining a copy of 
FileMaker Pro (which is VERY expensive), but if you do get it, I have a...I think 
it's called a datasheet for it that generates as many words as you want.   
It's VERY user-friendly, and totally customizeable.   Basically, on the left you 
put a list of variables, say:

CVCV
VCV
CVC
VC

Then on the righthand column you define those variables.   So...

C = p, t, k, m, n, l, r
V = a, e, i, o, u

Then, if you want, you can put percentages, so...

CVCV60%
VCV10%
CVC25%
VC5%

Then you put in the number of words you want, and it will randomly generate 
words, 60% of which will be of the form CVCV, 25% of which will be CVC, etc.

An added bonus to this is that you can add historical sound changes, and 
activate/inactivate them at will.   So let's say you do...

t > tS / _i
s > S / _i

All you have to do is click on the box that says "Run this sound change 
automatically when generating words", and if it generates a form like /pati/ it'll 
automatically become [patSi].   But, let's say at some point in time you 
decide that, in the orthography, [patSi] will be spelled /pati/, then you can 
deactivate the sound change: It's very handy.

This was designed by Josh Brandt-Young specifically for me (he was once on 
CONLANG).   He's the man.   Anyway, though, he gave me a copy of FileMaker Pro.  
 If you don't have one, what you can do is download the trial version from 
filemaker.com, and it'll let you have it for a month.   Then you can use the 
program as long as you want, since it's a separate data sheet on its own (saves 
automatically).   Then every month you just have to download a new trial 
version.   (This is what I'm doing right now because the copy Josh gave me is on my 
old computer, and I can *not* figure out how the heck to transfer it to my new 
computer!)

Oh, and, of course, this is all for Mac OSX.

-David
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