<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
/* start of attachment style */
.ygrp-photo-title{
clear: both;
font-size: smaller;
height: 15px;
overflow: hidden;
text-align: center;
width: 75px;
}
div.ygrp-photo{
background-position: center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-color: white;
border: 1px solid black;
height: 62px;
width: 62px;
}
div.photo-title
a,
div.photo-title a:active,
div.photo-title a:hover,
div.photo-title a:visited {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row {
clear: both;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div {
float: left;
/* margin: 2px;*/
}
p {
clear: both;
padding: 15px 0 3px 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
div.ygrp-file {
width: 30px;
valign: middle;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div a {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div span {
font-weight: normal;
}
div.ygrp-file-title {
font-weight: bold;
}
/* end of attachment style */
-->
</style>
</head>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br><br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
Hi Richard,<br>
<br>
I did this kind of thing in the early days of our language project in
PNG. I had worked out the consonant and vowel phonemes for Amele and
that word roots could be one, two or three syllables. I then had
someone at Ukarumpa High School write a program (this was in 1978) to
generate possible word roots in Amele based on the phoneme inventory
and the syllable patterns. The lists for the one and two syllable roots
weren't too long but the list for the three syllable roots was
enormous! I then distributed these lists to various Amele people for
them to try and identify actual word roots. They thought this was great
fun. But the hard work was then confirming that the roots indicated
were actual words and what their meaning and usage were.<br>
<br>
Another SIL member I know (who I met again just recently) used the same
method for their language project. He said when he gave the lists out
to people one of the men asked, "Do you want all the dirty words too?"<br>
<br>
But as I recall, this method of "generating" words in a language was
somewhat frowned upon by the linguistic establishment in SIL-PNG in
those days. But I found I got a lot of words that I might not have got
hold of otherwise - such as taboo words.<br>
<br>
I believe there is software available in SIL now that can do this kind
of thing for you. You don't have to ask a high schooler to do it for
you. Oh, and the people you are working with need to be literate in
their own language.<br>
<br>
John Roberts<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Richard Gravina wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:077DB6EBBE934062B1B648DB673BDC29@RichardDell"
type="cite">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
/* start of attachment style */
.ygrp-photo-title{
clear: both;
font-size: smaller;
height: 15px;
overflow: hidden;
text-align: center;
width: 75px;
}
div.ygrp-photo{
background-position: center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-color: white;
border: 1px solid black;
height: 62px;
width: 62px;
}
div.photo-title
a,
div.photo-title a:active,
div.photo-title a:hover,
div.photo-title a:visited {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row {
clear: both;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div {
float: left;
/* margin: 2px;*/
}
p {
clear: both;
padding: 15px 0 3px 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
div.ygrp-file {
width: 30px;
valign: middle;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div a {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div span {
font-weight: normal;
}
div.ygrp-file-title {
font-weight: bold;
}
/* end of attachment style */
-->
</style>
<meta content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18783">
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I'm interested in knowing more about
the method of data collection based on 'potential' words. This is where
you create lists of artificial words by randomly combining letters, and
then go through the lists with native speakers to see if the words
actually exist in the language.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Does anyone have any experience of
using this? Do you know of any resources or software that would help?</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Richard Gravina</font></div>
<!--End group email -->
<div width="1" style="color: white; clear: both;"></div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<div width="1" style="color: white; clear: both;"/>__._,_.___</div>
<!-- Start Recommendations -->
<!-- End Recommendations -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<img src="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97476590/grpId=11682781/grpspId=1709195911/msgId=5038/stime=1247153641" width="1" height="1"> <br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<div style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 77%; border-top: 1px solid #666; padding: 5px 0;" >
Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional <br>
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJnbGNyZWI3BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzExNjgyNzgxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwOTE5NTkxMQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNzdG5ncwRzdGltZQMxMjQ3MTUzNjQx">Change settings via the Web</a> (Yahoo! ID required) <br>
Change settings via email: <a href="mailto:lexicographylist-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery: Digest">Switch delivery to Daily Digest</a> | <a href = "mailto:lexicographylist-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change Delivery Format: Fully Featured">Switch to Fully Featured</a> <br>
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist;_ylc=X3oDMTJldWY2NHJ0BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzExNjgyNzgxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwOTE5NTkxMQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNocGYEc3RpbWUDMTI0NzE1MzY0MQ--">
Visit Your Group
</a> |
<a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">
Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use
</a> |
<a href="mailto:lexicographylist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe">
Unsubscribe
</a>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<div style="color: white; clear: both;"/>__,_._,___</div>
</body>
</html>