LINGUIST List 3.50

Mon 20 Jan 1992

FYI: PC Software for Phonological Analysis

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Directory

1. "FRANK R. BRANDON", PC Software for Phonological Analysis

Fonol 4.2.1 -- Phonological theory/rule simulation software -- latest release.

 Fonol is designed as a kind of tool box for setting up variants of
phonological theories in the general generative camp and its successors and
then developing and testing phonological rules and matrices on data.
 It allows for: Standard phonological rules. Transformations. Paren-
thesis, curly brace, and variable conflation. Cycles, iteration, and dis-
junctive ordering of rules. Greek letter variable features. Input condi-
tions, output conditions, conditions on variables in rules, and starring
forms.
 Theories and models are set up by selectively using features of the
Fonol system. Flags can also be set to determine the way rules are inter-
preted and how rule reapplication (cycles, iteration) functions.
 There is support for checking data for residue, comparing models and
rules, keeping track of versions of rules, selective display of results, and
preserving records and data. All documentation is thoroughly indexed and can
be searched and read online. A set of 'kitchen-sink' demo files are supplied
to try to illustrate as many system features as possible.
 Fonol continues under development with the objective of covering as
many theories and variants as possible. User input is welcome.
 Fonol runs on any MS-DOS machine and is available by anonymous ftp
from sites which have copies of the Simtel-20 archives, for example:
wuarchive.wustl.edu (or wsmr-simtel20.army.mil itself). Once you have
logged in, change directories to the mirrors/msdos/linguistics directory
and get Fonol421.zip as a binary file. If you have any problems, let me
know.
 -- Frank R. Brandon brandongamma.is.tcu.edu brandontcucvms.bitnet