IPAZounds (was: Reversible sound change applier)

Aidan Grey wrote:
> Actually, check out IPAZounds, by Jamie Norrish. Not only does it do
> reverse application, but it also uses IPA or XSAMPA, can group rules (you
> write the rule for nasalization once, and then simply refer to
> Nasalization whenever you need it again)....
WOW! but boo-hoo, I don't think I'm computer-savvy enough to use that, so
will end up doing Gwr by hand. But a related question for anyone who has
done rule-writing by hand (on the computer)-- how does one get BIG
parentheses/brackets/braces that enclose large sets of features et al., e.g.
[+xxx, +yyy, -zzz, -mno etc] but arranged vertically??? (I _have_ figured
out that one must use a fixed-width font.) In olden (typewriter) days, of
course, one drew them in by hand.

Actually, re { }, as J.McCawley used to say, if you see them in a rule,
something is wrong-- probably too generalized, or conflating things that
shouldn't be.... "Curly brackets are bad."

The set of distinctive features is very useful; but I don't see any way to
indicate retroflexion _of vowels_. Nor is it clear whether Greek-letter
variables are supported, though he does give examples of them.