Re: Conlanging techniques

On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Bjorn Kristinsson wrote:
> >
> > Now to my question, I was wondering if you had any conlanging techniques to
> > share. Like, do you use computers much and what software do you use?
>
> It all depends on the individual.  Some people use computers a lot,
> others not at all, except, at most, to record what they create.  I
> personally use computers mostly just for recording.
Forgot to mention this--Rosenfelder's sound change program (it can be
found at http://www.zompist.com) is useful for brute-force application of
sound changes, though I find the fact that it can't handle digraphs
unless you write up special rules yourself annoying.  If my programming
were any less rusty I would try to write a version that *could* handle
strings instead of just single letters.

I keep conlang notes/files in notebooks or as WP files or in HTML.
(Hard-coding tons of line breaks is a pain, but my computer is a Mac and
the one I use that's internet-connected is a Win98 PC---not to mention my
next computer may be a PC--so the idea was the HTML would be platform
independent but more formattable than text/ASCII.)  If I had any sense I
would write my own very basic Chevraqis-tailored database program
(perhaps one that could even handle vertical words...).  Elsewhere,
Shoebox has been mentioned (I think you have to pay for it, though) and
someone on the list (sorry!  don't remember who) wrote a conlang-database
program called Kura (?) though I don't remember what platform(s) it's for.

YHL