--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" <alexandru_mg3@...>
wrote:
> Next I will write a program that "will go down and up" based on
> these rules....generating different outputs for one input (should be
> only one but because we are not sure about all these rules will be
> more than one...) and different inputs for the same output.
>
> This program will be of course public on this forum, so there isn't
> any private setup here (not to create confusions).
I'm not sure about multiple outputs - that gets very complicated very
rapidly - but for applying a single set of rules which one can change
manually, there's Mark Rosenfelder's sound change applier at
http://www.zompist.com . Several people have converted it to a web
page, which anyone can run without too much worry about viruses.
Anyone using there employer's computer may be a little nervous about
downloading executables or using Excel macros! However, there is no
problem with the web page. I've used it at lunch time on my paranoid
employer's computers.
My effort, which can be run off-line, is available via
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.wordingham/sounds/prep5d_rom.htm
. It's split into HTML which can be customised to present the data,
and a javascript file which need can be shared between data sets. I
believe Miguel occasionally uses it, though he may have made his own
notational enhancements.
Mark Rosenfelder's sound change applier seems to be the closest there
is to a simple, practical standard for expressing sound changes.
The big problem with it is that it doesn't handle segment copying
rules. Italian gemination or West Germanic germination needs a
separate rule for every consonant! I made an experimental
generalisation to handle Sean Whalen's proposed sound changes, which
did need segment or feature copying, and the experimental version ran
much slower.
Richard.