LINGUIST List 7.124

Fri Jan 26 1996

Misc: Spelling, Lang & the Millenium

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

Directory

1. Ron Kephart, Re: vol-6-1756, Spelling
2. Lee Hartman, Language and the Millenium

Two languages that I can think of whose spelling systems are about as
phonemic as you can probably get are Haitian Creole (the official
orthography: see Ann Pale Kreyol, by Albert Valdman) and Aymara. In the
case of Aymara, I am referring to the system devised by Juan de Dios
Yapita, a native speaker. See The Aymara Language in its Social and
Cultural Context, ed by M. J. Hardman.

In 1980-84 I developed a phonemic spelling system for Creole English as
spoken in Carriacou, Grenada, and used it successfully with school
children there. However, it has no official status and therefore I
susppose doesn't count!

 Thank you, Brigitte Nerlich, for the summary of linguistics's
accomplishments and desiderata for the future. Among the latter,
I took particular note of the following:

>WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
>Leo Orbst was the only one to address this question and came up with the
>following list of [three] desiderata which we most heartily endorse:
>"1) I would like to see computational models of language change created. I
>think that there are enough tools and information available to begin
>mathematically treating diachronic models.

"Begin"? I have good news: that work began more than 15 years ago,
in the case of the "PHONO" program by Lee Hartman, and it has recently
come to fruition in the form of publicly downloadable software, housed in the
Online Linguistics Archive at the University of Michigan. Obtain it by FTP
from
 "linguistics.archive.umich.edu"
in the directory
 "linguistics/software/dos"
by downloading the file
 "phono.zip".
The process is even easier if you have a web-browser; direct it to
 "http://www.umich.edu/~archive/linguistics/software/dos/phono.zip";
and download. (If you need more details, ask your local computer guru or me.)
 I hear tell that the author is eager to hear about the results
of using the software with a variety of languages.
 Also don't overlook the work of John Hewson on the reconstruction
of Proto-Algonquian and the work by John B. Lowe and Martine Mazaudon
with their "Reconstruction Engine" -- both projects partially described in
a late-1994 or early-1995 issue of _Computational Linguistics_.

Lee Hartman
Dept. of Foreign Languages
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4521
U.S.A.