[Lexicog] ANOTHER OPTION

[Jimm GoodTracks]

I thought that I would share another option for Dictionary software programs specific for indigenous languages.  I personally am acquainted with Doug Parks and Raymond Demallie at Indiana University, and the high quality of their expertise and materials.  I thought the Lexi-group would be interested in part, of the discussion I have recently had with the Kaw (Kansa) Nation Language Program Director.  He states:  

The program we have been using to develop the expanded Kaw dictionary is the Indiana Dictionary Database, from the American Indian Studies Research Institute at Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~aisri/projects/idd/idd.shtml).    It's a big and complicated program as far as editing is concerned, with maybe twenty or more tables associated with each entry.  The on-board search engine is the best way to navigate through it, but there is also a "combo screen" view that allows you to browse through the entries at a glance, either from English to Kaw or Kaw to English.  

That said, anytime we feel the database is "full enough" to fill some need in the community, we can export all the material into other formats for the purpose of producing a simpler user's dictionary.  We did one of those last summer.  It's a very bare-bones English to Kaw dictionary book file.  You can download the .pdf at http://www.kawnation.com/WebKanza/LangResources/nglshknzdctnry.pdf.  I think most entries in this version have the English entry, any related Kaw glosses, and grammatical class (part of speech), and that's it.

(Later)   the examples and paradigmatic forms, we'll print another version that will offer more information, and will be searchable by ANY word that happens to appear anywhere in the entry form.  So, let's say you know the word kó?bla, but can't remember that it's the 1st Singular/ "I" form of the verb gó?ya, 'to want.'  You'll be able to search for kó?bla, and it will turn up as a paradigmatic form for gó?ya under the English entry 'want.'

I think this is the crux of the discussion you sent:  Editing and use are separate considerations.  I think if you're using a special program like IDD, Shoebox/Toolbox, or D-Base , then you're really working on the editing side, and you'll have very different concerns and approaches than the end users of the product will have.  You may in fact need to worry about special parsers and inflectional/ derivational concerns from time to time, as the discussion participants brought up.  You'll need to worry about back-and-forth indexing, repeated/ redundant entries, integrity of parallel entry forms, etc.  

End users, on the other hand, will probably want something that looks like every other dictionary on the planet: A book.  Even if you're planning on producing an eBook with all the searching benefits, I would wager that the end users will think of it as just the file-version of a book, essentially an unprinted dictionary manuscript.  Their users' concerns, however, will be addressed during the editing phase with a lot of preliminary planning and work on the part of the editors.  In my kó?bla example, for instance, end users will be able to hunt down the meaning of a headword form through the search function provided we do all the legwork well in advance of producing the "end product" dictionary.

That's my opinion, anyway.
-Justin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20080513/5fb328c8/attachment.htm>