Nxaʔamxcín (Moses) Dictionary Blog

I just tried to find the Unicode characters for the mid-central [a] and the back [ɑ]. The former is LATIN SMALL LETTER a 0061, and the latter is LATIN SMALL LETTER ALPHA, 0251.

BUT when I copied and pasted the "back a" character which is used throughout the xml files, from Oxygen into the character palette search box, it turned out it IS LATIN SMALL LETTER a 0061!

So this is just a font problem in Oxygen, and we don't have to find and replace anything in the data. The character does display correctly as mid-central [a] on the database website.

Rewrote some parts of the markup documentation to include our decisions about attested vs unattested transcriptions, locations of <bibl> elements, and other issues.

We discovered we needed the @subtype attribute on <phr>, and it wasn't available, so I went back to the schema. What I have is a manually-modified RNG file; the original was generated from Roma back before P5 was finally released, and I think Roma was broken at one point, hence the manual modification to the RNG (to allow <bibl> in <entry>). I discover now, though, that there were significant changes to the dictionary markup between the generation of my schema and the release of P5. Specifically, dicteg now no longer exists (<cit> and/or <q> and/or <quote> should be used), and it looks as though @subtype is now available on <phr>. However, if I generate a new schema, all the old data will be invalid because of <dicteg>, so as a temporary measure I've made another manual modification to the old schema to allow @subtype on <phr>, and we're sticking with the old schema until I get the chance to generate a new one, figure out the issues, re-process all the old markup, and rewrite the XSLT. Not a huge task, but an annoying and unexpected addition to the workload.

To clarify which phonemic transcriptions in the database were recorded by MDK, and which have been derived by ECH from MDK's narrow transcriptions, we are adding subtype="unattested" to the markup.

A phonemic form transcribed by MDK will still be marked up like:

<pron>
<seg type="phonemic">ṣə̣́nṣə̣nt</seg><bibl>JM3.20.11</bibl>
<seg type="narrow">sə́nsə̀nt</seg><bibl>Y24.40</bibl>
</pron>

(An appropriate disclaimer can be programmatically added to all of MDK's phonemic forms in the final output.)

A phonemic form derived by ECH will be marked up like:

<pron>
<seg type="phonemic" subtype="unattested">ṣə̣́nṣə̣nt lx</seg><bibl>ECH</bibl>
<seg type="narrow">ṣə̣́nṣə̣nt ləx</seg><bibl>JM3.21.1</bibl>
</pron>

A phonemic form derived by MDK (one with no source noted in the file cards or lexware database) will be marked up like:

<pron>
<seg type="phonemic" subtype="unattested">ṣə̣́nṣə̣nt lx</seg><bibl>MDK</bibl>
<seg type="narrow">ṣə̣́nṣə̣nt ləx</seg><bibl>JM3.21.1</bibl>
</pron>

This applies to <phr>s as well as <seg>s. Martin has rewritten the schema to allow for subtypes of <phr>s.

Every <seg> and <phr> should now have a sister <bibl> showing its source.

I have carried these changes through the s-rtr, c-rtr, and phar-w files, and will implement them in the affix file next.

It is also possible to put <bibl> tags higher up the tree; e.g., if everything in an entry came from the same source, only one <bibl> tag would be needed, a sister to the whole <entry>

Ewa needs to write the discussion / "disclaimer" re: Kinkade's phonemic transcriptions. See for example ṣə̣́nṣə̣nt, 'tame'.

Here's a summary of the rest of the markup decisions we made last week:

-placeName tags can be added to highlight place names within glosses, e.g.

<seg><gloss><placeName>Corkscrew Grade </placeName></gloss>(next canyon from <gloss><placeName>Jackass Canyon</placeName></gloss>)</seg>

-Each <entry> should generally only have one <hyph>. It is not necessary to have a <hyph> for every <form>, unless a variant form contains one or more additional morphemes (e.g. cahcimn, cahcimn-c).

-For words which were transcribed with an initial "(s-)", the prefixed and non-prefixed variants should be marked up as different forms within the same entry. They will have different <hyph>s.

-Words with ə transcribed in parentheses should have separate segs for transcriptions with and without ə - e.g.,

<seg type="narrow">cx̣cx̣ᵊnᵊwˀálənˀ</seg>
<seg type="narrow">cəx̣cəx̣ᵊnᵊwˀálənˀ</seg>

-Yes, morpheme breakdown should be included in <dicteg>s, but only for the form being exemplified.

I have just changed the following xml:ids in all the active files (including the affix file):

n --> n-CTL
nt --> n-CTL + t-TR
s2 --> s-SUBJ
kaL-pr --> kaɬ-PR
kɬ-der --> kɬ-DER
kˀɬ-der --> kʼɬ-DER

Ewa will need to ADD the following morphemes to the affix file:

=mix-LS (this is =amx, mix, ExW 'people')
(DONE, SMK 10OCt12. This entry already existed under =amx, but I have changed the xml:id to mix-LS.)

-aɬ- compound linking morpheme. Check fs for morpheme designation

n-LOC (locative prefix)

n-unknown (see sḥaƛʼƛʼnus)

k-LOC (locative prefix)

t-LOC (locative prefix)

kɬ-LOC (locative prefix)

kat-LOC (locative prefix)

niʔ (locative prefix)

t-TR (transitive suffix)

CHAR (characteristic reduplication)

OC (out-of-control reduplication, +C2)

n-SUBJ (1st person singular subject)

xW-SUBJ (2nd person singular subject)

t-SUBJ (1st person plural subject)

Ø-OBJ (3rd person singular object)

m-OBJ (1st/2nd person singular object after -stu-)

m-SUBJ (1pl subject occurring with 3 object in causative paradigm)

al (1st person plural object)

ɬ-DIR (directive)

sa (Note: one cross-reference to a morpheme "sa" already appears in the affix file.)

si

RED (total reduplication - e.g. hames+hames) [n.b.: there is already a morpheme with xml:id RED in the affix file. It's CVʔ reduplication. This needs sorting out, as total reduplication has already been marked up with RED in the h.xml file.]

m-MID (middle)
(Are other "m" morphemes missing too?)

sac (stative)

ʔin- (1st/2nd person singular possessive)

s-POSS (3rd person possessive)

ayˀ-PAST (not to be confused with the entry "ayˀ" in the lexical suffix file!)

s-SUBJ also needs its definition added.

Much debate today on how to mark up entries which have variations in narrow transcription, translation, source, or any combination of the above [<var>s in the Lexware system].

We concluded as follows:

-All the <forms> in an entry should have the same phonemic transcription. Ewa will need to make sure this is the case as she goes through the c-rtr, s-rtr,and phar-w files.

-For entries where the narrow transcriptions are different, but the <def>s are the same, all the narrow transcriptions can be collapsed into one <form>, and all the <bibl>s within the <sense> element can be collapsed into one <def>. SEE FOR EXAMPLE: sʕʷáʔʕʷaʔ "cougar".

-For entries where the senses are different, there should be a separate form for each sense, even if the narrow transcriptions are the same. SEE FOR EXAMPLE: ṣạpḷị́ḷ "flour, bread"