[Lexicog] dictionary software

[Ron Moe]

I was in the Phillipines in the 80s and used their system to format the
Maguindanaon dictionary for publication. The Phillipines system has been
supplanted by Multi Dictionary Formatter (MDF), which automates and
simplifies the export process out of Shoebox. It has a few limitations and
there are efforts being made to fix the problems. But for most applications
it is very user friendly and does lots of nice things.

We solve the sorting/folding problems in Shoebox/MDF by setting up two
fields, \lx lexical item (for the stem), and \lc lexical citation form:

\lx ntu
\lc muntu
\ps n

\lx bala
\lc kubala
\ps v

When we print, we sort by the \lc field and export with it as the key field.
The \lx is a throw away for the printed dictionary, but is useful within
Shoebox for sorting and interlinearization where you want an unaffixed form.

You could fold the entry in the \lc field:

\lx kubba kiyo
\lc kiyo, kubba
\ps phr

I've developed automated routines using SIL's Consistent Changes program to
generate one field from the other, so that you don't have to type them both.

Ron Moe
SIL, Uganda

-----Original Message-----
From: David Frank [mailto:david_frank at sil.org]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 2:00 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] dictionary software


Ken Hill, your alphabetizer field sounds like my alphabetic key field, which
compares with what John Koontz called a sorting handle. The name doesn't
matter -- they all sound like basically the same idea.

So you used 19 fields on the Hopi dictionary. That sounds manageable. I can
understand if a comparative dictionary would require a lot more.

I have dug out the document that was the starting point for my own work on
dictionaries and dictionary software. It is an unpublished document from SIL
Philippines from 1986 that involves 73 potential fields and a flow chart
that was daunting to say the least. And this was in the day before Shoebox
or any other standard format editor. Everything had to be typed in using a
simple text editor. But I don't mean to criticize. This was an unpublished
approach and I'm sure they produced some good dictionaries that way.

I guess my next question is what you used to turn your Hopi dictionary
database into a formatted document for printing.

-- David Frank




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