Phon 1.5.2 released

[Yvan Rose]

Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to announce the release of Phon 1.5.2, which offers a number of significant improvements over the version we introduced at IASCL in Montréal last summer. A general description of Phon and relevant web link are offered below. Concerning version 1.5.2 more specifically, we highlight the following improvements:

• Support for the ExtIPA character set for disordered speech
• Support for a wider array of phonological annotations (e.g. support for contour consonants)
• Higher compliance with IPA standards more generally
• Completely refactored IPA map, which also includes supports the above changes
• New system for generating data reports
• New aggregated data report format

The latter addition enables the user to track phonological patterns across recording sessions, for easier tracking of longitudinal data across recording sessions. Please see the Release notes (link below) for a list of these and other important changes.

These changes enable us to both tighten the quality of the phonological definitions we use within the PhonBank database and at the same time support a wider array of phonological studies. For our current users, however, this update might require minor revisions to IPA transcriptions, in order to adhere to the tighter phonological definitions.

In order to help in the process, we added two news facilities in Phon. First, IPA transcriptions whose format is not supported in Phon are flagged directly in the Session Editor through red markings and associates screen tips, as per the attached screen shot.



Second, in order to provide corpus-wide verifications of the validity of the IPA transcriptions, we implemented a function called “Check Transcriptions” (available from the Project Manager’s Project menu), which provides useful references (corpus, session, record number) for every IPA character string that does not conform with Phon standards (see user manual for more information). In order not to affect research outcomes, we strongly encourage every current user of Phon to run this function before running data queries.

Over the next few weeks, we will revise all of the corpora currently available through the PhonBank website. In case you have any question about this corpus maintenance work, please feel free to email us either via the group discussion (or directly at yrose at mun.ca if needed).

We look forward to your feedback on this new version.

Sincerely yours,
Yvan Rose
Gregory Hedlund

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Brief description of Phon
Phon is a software program that greatly facilitates a number of tasks required for the analysis of phonological development. Phon supports multimedia data linkage, unit segmentation, multiple-blind transcription, automatic labeling of data, and systematic comparisons between target (model) and actual (produced) phonological forms. All of these functions are accessible through a user-friendly graphical interface. Databases managed within Phon can also be queried using a powerful search interface. This software program works on Mac OS X, Windows and Unix/Linux platforms, is fully compliant with the CHILDES/TalkBank XML format, and supports Unicode font encoding. Phon is being made freely available to the community as open-source software. It meets specific needs related to the study of first language phonological development (including babbling), second language acquisition, and speech disorders. Phon facilitates data exchange among researchers and the construction of a shared PhonBank database, which supports research in all areas of phonological development.

Important links
Links to Phon:
	http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/phon/
	http://phon.ling.mun.ca/phonwiki/

Release notes:
	http://phon.ling.mun.ca/phontrac/wiki/phon1_5/ReleaseNotes

Links to the PhonBank corpora:
-Corpora in CHAT format:
	http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/data/PhonBank/
-Corpora in Phon format:
	http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/data/PhonBank-Phon/

Discussion group:
Phon users are encouraged to subscribe to the discussion group (no Gmail account required to subscribe):
	http://groups.google.com/group/phon
-To join the group, click on the “Apply for group membership” and follow the instructions.
-Group's email address (for message posting):
	phon at googlegroups.com

Acknowledgments
Funding: 
Current development of Phon and PhonBank is supported by the National Institute of Health. Earlier development of Phon was funded by grants from National Science Foundation, Canada Fund for Innovation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Petro-Canada Fund for Young Innovators, and the Office of the Vice-President (Research) and the Faculty of Arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Special thanks: 
While it is impossible to name everyone who ended up being involved in one way or another in this project, we owe special thanks to a wonderful group of early adopters and beta testers, without whom it would have been much more difficult to produce the current software.

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