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Conlang Software

From:Ed Heil <edheil@...>
Date:Friday, August 20, 1999, 1:25
OK, here's a description of my ideal for a vocabulary-generating
program.

I can define a set of generation rules a la langmaker, wordgen, Chris
Pound's "werd," or whatever.

I can then input a list of meanings that I want to make words for.

For each one, I can click a button until I find a randomly generated
vocab item that seems to me to "fit" with the meaning of the word.  (I
can also just make up a word and write it in, of course.)  Then I move
on to the next item.  Eventually I have a long list of words, each of
which I have personally approved as appropriate for that meaning.

Anybody want to write this? :)

Actually, come to think of it, there's nothing sacred about doing it
with a fancy-pants point and click interface.  You could just as
easily make a perl script that takes as input a meaning list and a
werd-style (cf: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/#werd ) vocabulary
generator.  Then it goes through the list one at a time, line by line,
and asks for your input, like this:

MEANING: cheese. WORD: mubbledibblemurk.  OK? Yes/No/Write
>N
MEANING: cheese. WORD: smarglefrood. OK? Yes/No/Write
>N
MEANING: cheese. WORD: snikplof. OK? Yes/No/Write
>Y
Write in:
>zazoom
MEANING: cheese. WORD: zazoom. OK? Yes/No/Write
>Y
MEANING: chocolate. WORD: frozzoboz. OK? Yes/No/Write
>Y
Hey... *I* could almost write this. A perl guru could probably write it in five minutes. Ed