Re: Items needed for computer generation of words( was Re: ARequest for Clarification: Syllables)
Saul Epstein 
Sat, 8 Nov 1997 09:20:22 -0600

From: Rob Zook <rzook*informix,com>
Date: Friday, November 7, 1997 4:24 PM
 
> At 03:10 PM 11/7/97 -0600, Saul wrote:
> >Rob wrote:
> >
> >>For any given syllable in a language one could find up to 24
different
> >>variations on how a syllable is formed if we take into
consideration
> >>consonent clusters and dipthongs.
> >>
> >>CV    CCV    VC    VVC
> >>CVV   CCVV   VCC   VVCC
> >>CVC   CCVC   VCV   VVCV
> >>CVCC  CCVCC  VCVV  VVCVV
> >>CVVC  CCVVC  VCCV  VVCCV
> >>CVVCC CCVVCC VCCVV VVCCVV
> >
> >Actually, the last 4 items in the last two columns have two
syllables, so
> >that's 16. 
> 
> Oops. Your right, I got a little carried away there.
> 
> >But if one includes 3-consonant clusters like spl- or -rst, there
> >would be..,32?
> 
> Well, I was meaning CC to stand in for any consonent cluster. And 
> VV to stand in for any dipthong.

Ahh. Very clever.

> >>The way syllables are formed in the middle of the words are also
> >>probably different then how they are formed at the beginning and
the
> >>end.
> >
> >If you mean that the kinds of consonants and clusters permitted at
the
> >beginnings and ends of a syllable depends on the syllable's
position in a
> >word, that's true. But we can approach the description of such
rules now.
> >For instance, if we find that the sequence #NC
> >(word-boundary+nasal+consonant) is not permitted, but the sequence
VNC
> >(vowel+nasal+consonant) is permitted, then the hypothetical word
/omqee/ 
> >is possible, regardless of whether it breaks as om-qee or omq-ee
or even
> >o-mqee.
> 
> /mq/? Now that seems like a real throat breaker to me. Worse than
/ky/
> by far.

Oh, /ky/ is easy. You say it every time you say "cute," or
"accuracy."

> >To be sure, things can get more complicated than this. What about
a word
> >like /omqprii/? If /mq/ is permitted after a vowel, /qp/ is
permitted
> >except at the end of words, and /pr/ is permitted before a vowel,
is 
> >VmqprV permitted? Or do we need to further specify that NC must be

> >preceded by a vowel and cannot be followed by a stop?
> 
> Well, we should put it in as explicit terms as possible. Given the 
> small amount of data in the dictionary, whatever Marketa, and Prof.
> Zvelebil cannot supply we may have to make up as it becomes
neccessary.

Yes.

> The best thing would be a list of word inital, mid word and word
> ending consonent clusters, and possible a fuller list with allowed
> vowels/dipthongs. If we make the rules explicit enough, such a
> list should be simple to generate. It could then become an input
> file to the program doing the word generation.

Right. That's what I was trying to start with my "Consonant Clusters
at the Beginnings of Words."

	[snip]

> So to summarize, here are the things which we need to do a
computerized
> generation of a bunch of words:
> 
> 1. Frequency Distribution (FD) of the phonemes (we almost have
this).
> 2. FD of syllable forms.
> 3. FD of word initial, mid-word, and word ending consonent
clusters.
> 4. FD of dipthongs.

We can find 3-4 for the data we have in much the same we have for 1.
We can even make a stab at 2, if we take single-syllable words as
data. If the professor can give us guidance we can simply set the FD
for some of these. Otherwise we have some construction to do.

--
from Saul Epstein
liberty <at> uit <dot> net
www <dot> johnco <dot> cc <dot> ks <dot> us <slash> <tilde> sepstein
"Surak ow'phaaper thes'hi thes'tca'; thes'phaadjar thes'hi
suraketca'."
							-- K'dvarin Urswhl'at