LINGUIST List 6.1196

Fri Sep 1 1995

FYI: Switching between transliteration systems

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <dseelyemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Jacques Guy, Software for switching between transliteration systems

I have written a program (PCs only) to translate from any transliteration
system into almost any other (for instance from the Chinese pinyin system
into the Giles-Wade system). You only need to define the translation
rules. It is avalaible from the anonymous ftp site garbo.uwasa.fi as
file bitrans1.zip in directory pc/linguistics
Here is a copy of my uploading message:


File: bitrans1.zip
One line description: Bidirectional transliteration translator
Suggested Garbo directory: /pc/linguistics
Replaces:
Uploader name & email: Jacques B.M. Guy -- j.guytrl.oz.au
Author or company: Jacques B.M. Guy
Email address: j.guytrl.oz.au
Surface address: Telstra Research Laboratories, PO Box 249,
 Clayton 3168 Australia
Special requirement: nil
Shareware payment from private users: no
Shareware payment required from corporate users: no
Distribution limitations: gnu-like
Demo: no
Nagware: no
Self-documenting: no
External documentation included: yes (12 pages)
Source included: yes (Turbo Pascal)
Size: 36k compressed, 97k expanded

10-line description:

BiTrans will translate a text written in any transliteration system
(e.g. Chinese written in pinyin) into almost any other system (e.g. the
Giles-Wade system), provided that it is given the necessary translation
rules. BiTrans can also be used to simulate simple cases of phonological
evolution.

One of the example files provided contains the rules for translating
from pinyin into Giles-Wade. Those rules are fully commented and
can be used as a practical tutorial.