Dictionary

[Omzinesý]

I have found that Exel isn't the best program to make a dictionary with words that contain several meaning and have no one-to-one correspondence to their native counterparts.
What program would be better?

Yes, the topic has already been discussed somewhere.

[Sankon]

Lexique Pro seems to be a somewhat popular choice.

[masako]

What is it exactly that doesn't suit your needs in Excel? I have found it to be indispensable with regards to sorting and keeping track of changes. As for "words that contain several meaning" and "have no one-to-one correspondence to their native counterparts" I would ask for an example or four, because I have no issue with entries like:

tsaya - n; u - used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt (damn)

And unless I am misreading your post, that's exactly the type of entry you describe.

And as neat as Lexique Pro is, it can also be a bit unwieldy as well as not ideal for beginners.

[masako]

This is just a sample of my excel file for Kala. If you like, I can do a work up for you and show you how to maintain it so that your data not only stays accurate and helpful, but that you can sort you lexicon in multiple ways.

[Maximillian]

This is just a sample of my excel file for Kala. If you like, I can do a work up for you and show you how to maintain it so that your data not only stays accurate and helpful, but that you can sort you lexicon in multiple ways.

Please do! I have had a lot of difficulties with any computer-based dictionaries, until I decided to do all my lexicons in a notebook.

[Xing]

I have found that Exel isn't the best program to make a dictionary with words that contain several meaning and have no one-to-one correspondence to their native counterparts.
What program would be better?

Yes, the topic has already been discussed somewhere.

Are you thinking about many-to-many correspondence?

[Jádyndár]

As for "words that contain several meaning" and "have no one-to-one correspondence to their native counterparts" I would ask for an example or four

Unless I've misunderstood, I think the OP means words more along the lines of the ones in your own dictionary that have multiple meanings separated by semicolons (the same convention I use in my Gomain dictionary, incidentally) - entries like the one for tsala. I think the OP is looking for a way to put those different meanings into different cells, which IMO would make searching easier (I'd like to do that for my own dictionary, as well). In other words, instead of having a single column for all the possible meanings of a word, there might be multiple columns, each containing a single meaning, or something like that.

As an aside, I'm fascinated by your Kala dictionary. I can figure out what some of the columns are for, but I'd be interested to learn about all of them.

[masako]

Please do!

OK. Please, bear with me.

I think the OP is looking for a way to put those different meanings into different cells

Well...simply put, in the H column of my sample, he [the OP] puts each desired meaning in whatever cell - of that row - then sorts them by using a column to the left or right with the same lexical entry, ie:



You'll note that column E is a root word. This helps to keep roots sorted and makes dictionaries sortable by meaning, lexeme or root.

I can figure out what some of the columns are for, but I'd be interested to learn about all of them.

Column A: the vowels of the word, to include the ya ye yo as well as ua and ue diphthongs.

Column B: this is a code that replaces consonants with others not used in Kala and vowels with numerals and allows me to sort by the Kala "alphabetic order" [collating sequence] rather than English ABC's

Column C: this is the semantic role or thematic category of the main lexical entry [not necessarily the root]

Column D: this column exists solely to aid in the coding I need to make the formula for easy entry to my wiki, a sample of the code:

Code: Select all

="* "&"'''[["&D1&"/"&E1&"|"&F1&"]]'''"&" - "&"''"&G1&"''"&" - "&H1&" - "&"''"&I1&"''"

Column E: as mentioned, this is the root of the lexical entry [most entries are their own roots]

Column F: this is the lexical entry

Column G: this is the "part of speech" | p = particle / n = noun / u = verb; most words fall into 2 or all three categories

Column H: this is the English meaning

Column I: this is the language borrowed from [xxx = a priori]

Being able to sort from any one of these columns makes word construction and tracking a breeze and I have not found or seen any other program that works as well for conlanging.

Any questions?

[Hakaku]

Quick question: If column A includes only the vowels of the word, how come "ekam" only features "a"? And how come in your first example you include apostrophes (presumably glottal stops?), but in the second, the vowels of "ha'i" are marked "ai" rather than "a'i"?

[masako]

Quick question: If column A includes only the vowels of the word, how come "ekam" only features "a"? And how come in your first example you include apostrophes (presumably glottal stops?), but in the second, the vowels of "ha'i" are marked "ai" rather than "a'i"?

Well, you've caught me in the proverbial tight spot...those - simply put - are mistakes. Overlooked as I have made updates in the last few weeks.

*runs off to make corrections*

Thanks Hakaku.

[masako]

Here is a larger sample [corrections made].

[Maximillian]

Thank you. I'll try to apply it to my conlangs as well.

[Ilaeriu]

I was deeply in love with Lexique Pro. We were ready to move in with each other and everything.

Then one day it decided to stop working on me; I couldn't edit any entry without the program crashing. I was lucky enough to export the raw data of the database before it stopped working totally, and then I manually transferred the whole thing into a GoogleDocs spreadsheet. I really liked the interface and the fact that it was designed for creating dictionaries, so there were numerous ways to organize the information. It's just the trauma of nearly losing several dictionaries (I had one for each of my conlangs) that turned me off; if it's more stable now, I'd really like to try it again.