Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August Phonology Template Editor and Search Tool (PTEST) Kent Schroeder SIL International Nairobi, Kenya

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August The need for the tool How the tool works Phonology Template Editor and Search Tool (PTEST)

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August Problem Phonological analysis is a complex task, so doing quality work is a challenge Pace of doing language development among 250 Bantu languages is slow A better mechanism for sharing phonological analysis Lack of uniformity

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August Assumptions Use standard solutions for recurring problems Analysis should be informed by established expectations Computers are good for searching Analysis involves the ordinary linguist and consultant

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August Goals To assist with the analysis of Bantu phonemic systems To facilitate making results available to others through publication To simplify the task for linguists for doing phonological analysis

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August History Initially a template was developed using Microsoft Word with macros, helpful but slow Next a C++ program (PTEST) was developed -> much, much faster and does more Initial version released in Mar 2006 Current version released in Mar 2009

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Overview The purpose of the Phonology Template Editor and Search (PTEST) is to assist the linguist in the phonological analysis of a given language.

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Functions Generates pre-defined phonology reports Carries out various searches of phonetic data Allows the user to create user-defined phonology reports Interfaces with a sound player Assists with writing a phonology paper

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August SFM File (Shoebox/Toolbox) Various Search Results Report Template File Phonology Report SFM File (UTF-16) Bantu Phonology Report Default Phonotactics Report Phonology Template Editor and Search Tool (PTEST)

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Input File PTEST uses a Standard Format Marker database file, the same format used by Shoebox/Toolbox. The relevant fields are as follows: \lxRecord marker \phIPA phonetic transcription of word \geGloss in English \psParts of speech \gnGloss in national language (optional) \tnTones represented using numbers (optional) \tlTones represented using letters (optional) \waName of sound file (optional) \bBasic flag (optional)

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Input File

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August Phonetic Representation It uses IPA character set. This is accomplished using the Doulos SIL font ( Search can be restricted to roots of Words using square brackets in phonetic fields. (e.g. ku[pig]a, kibi]sa) Tone fields can include square brackets, too

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Version 1.3 Major Enhancement –The ability to take any generated phonology report and convert it to html document with hyperlinks to the examples that support the numbers given in a chart. The html documents can be added to a web site.

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Version 1.3 To generate a publishable document Generate a phonology report in an active document Create an XML document from the generated report in the active document. Create an HTML document from the generated XML document.

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST Version 1.3 Other Enhancements –The user can import UTF-8 SFM word list file directly. –The export function creates UTF-8.word list file. –The user can specify the field markers used by word list file. Released at the end of March 2009

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August Conclusion PTEST assists in the phonological analysis through the search and report facilities. PTEST provides helpful information about a language’s phonology. PTEST can facilitate a phonology publication about a language through the report facility

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August PTEST To access the software, go to the following web site: og/show_software.asp?id=116

Africa Area Bantu Department – Bantu Phonology Tool August