Creating Conlang Tool

This forum is for constructed languages, both those invented by UniLang members and those already existing.

Moderators:Ashucky, Dormouse559

User avatar
Draque
Posts:15
Joined:2013-09-18, 15:02
Real Name:Draque
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:
Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Draque » 2014-03-11, 18:01

Heyo guys. A few days ago I made a post asking whether a good tool for creating conlang dictionaries currently exists, and it seems like there aren't any really fleshed out ones that exist currently. So I thought I might put one together!

What features would be helpful in creating a conlang dictionary program? Here's my basic thought in terms of the basic features, but please respond with anything that you would like to see included!

1) Ability to use alternate character sets and arbitrary fonts.
2) Ability to create custom word types for languages with nonstandard types
3) Ability to record word properties
- type
- definition
- pronunciation
4) ability to set synonyms/antonyms in a way that autoupdates properties of each word accordingly
5) ability to set audio file as example pronunciation of word
6) Ability to include various documentation (arbitrary number of documents) with dictionary files to allow conlang author to distribute grammar rules, pronunciation guides, etc.
6) basic searching ability
- filter by type
- search by word, or word fragment
- search by word meaning (a synonym in the local language)

If there are any other features that would be helpful, please include them in responses!

User avatar
Levike
Posts:6153
Joined:2013-04-22, 19:26
Real Name:Levi
Gender:male
Location:Budapest
Country:HUHungary (Magyarország)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Levike » 2014-03-11, 18:20

Sounds like a simple program that could be implemented in C++ with classes.

But it would take a lot of time, like 6 hours.

User avatar
Draque
Posts:15
Joined:2013-09-18, 15:02
Real Name:Draque
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Draque » 2014-03-11, 18:22

I'm probably going to toss it out in Java. I run a mac, and most people run PCs, so that would let me make a single version that was cross compatible.

User avatar
Levike
Posts:6153
Joined:2013-04-22, 19:26
Real Name:Levi
Gender:male
Location:Budapest
Country:HUHungary (Magyarország)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Levike » 2014-03-11, 18:27

Just by curiosity, will you make it look like a normal traditional dictionary or something else?

How do you imagine the way it will look?

User avatar
Draque
Posts:15
Joined:2013-09-18, 15:02
Real Name:Draque
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Draque » 2014-03-11, 18:33

Not 100% sure there. I have a couple of mockups that I tossed together, but the interface is something that's pretty simple to change in general, so I'm not really sweating that right now. I'm thinking mostly just functional, rather than flashy looking.

User avatar
JuxtapositionQMan
Posts:679
Joined:2013-12-22, 18:14
Location:Denver
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby JuxtapositionQMan » 2014-03-11, 18:37

:? I don't know if this is just a given, but since you didn't list it, could you make translations into various languages? If so, could it be more than one? Many languages do not have direct equivalents to words, so it'd be helpful to cross-compare.
Also, how will the alternate character sets work? I'm interested to know because Kãmuhnya has a Hangul-esque vertical character derivation system that means it has either 36 letters or more than 6,000,000. This has inhibited me from ever making a Kãmuhnya dictionary, so if you could somehow make layerable characters, it would be very helpful. :)
Well, that was a thing.
speak: [flag=]en[/flag][flag=]eo[/flag]
learning: [flag=]fr[/flag][flag=]de[/flag][flag=]ru[/flag][flag=]pt[/flag][flag=]es[/flag][flag=]ro[/flag][flag=]art-jbo[/flag]
hiatus: [flag=]fi[/flag][flag=]it[/flag][flag=]la[/flag][flag=]wa[/flag][flag=]sv[/flag][flag=]eu[/flag][flag=]zh.Hans[/flag][flag=]is[/flag]
want to learn: [flag=]fo[/flag][flag=]be[/flag][flag=]ko[/flag][flag=]he[/flag][flag=]sw[/flag][flag=]hi[/flag][flag=]tr[/flag][flag=]nl[/flag][flag=]cy[/flag][flag=]hu[/flag]

User avatar
Draque
Posts:15
Joined:2013-09-18, 15:02
Real Name:Draque
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Draque » 2014-03-11, 18:42

JuxtapositionQMan wrote::? I don't know if this is just a given, but since you didn't list it, could you make translations into various languages? If so, could it be more than one? Many languages do not have direct equivalents to words, so it'd be helpful to cross-compare.
Also, how will the alternate character sets work? I'm interested to know because Kãmuhnya has a Hangul-esque vertical character derivation system that means it has either 36 letters or more than 6,000,000. This has inhibited me from ever making a Kãmuhnya dictionary, so if you could somehow make layerable characters, it would be very helpful. :)


It should be able to handle any character sets and fonts supported by your OS. Unfortunately, I don't know if there are any fonts that support what you're describing there. *However*, you might check out the free website FontStruct. You can create character sets with negative offset values so that they overlap one another. If you create a font there and use it in conjunction with this dictionary, you might be able to do what you're looking for.

Ahzoh
Posts:289
Joined:2013-09-13, 1:20
Real Name:Malcolm
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Ahzoh » 2014-03-11, 21:09

Draque wrote:Heyo guys. A few days ago I made a post asking whether a good tool for creating conlang dictionaries currently exists, and it seems like there aren't any really fleshed out ones that exist currently. So I thought I might put one together!

What features would be helpful in creating a conlang dictionary program? Here's my basic thought in terms of the basic features, but please respond with anything that you would like to see included!

1) Ability to use alternate character sets and arbitrary fonts.
2) Ability to create custom word types for languages with nonstandard types
3) Ability to record word properties
- type
- definition
- pronunciation
4) ability to set synonyms/antonyms in a way that autoupdates properties of each word accordingly
5) ability to set audio file as example pronunciation of word
6) Ability to include various documentation (arbitrary number of documents) with dictionary files to allow conlang author to distribute grammar rules, pronunciation guides, etc.
6) basic searching ability
- filter by type
- search by word, or word fragment
- search by word meaning (a synonym in the local language)

If there are any other features that would be helpful, please include them in responses!


Isn't there already the Conlangers WorkShop that Hashi made? It does all that, except some features, like synonym searching...
A native of [flag=]en-CA[/flag]
Conlang: Image
Economic Left/Right: -6.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46

User avatar
Draque
Posts:15
Joined:2013-09-18, 15:02
Real Name:Draque
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Draque » 2014-03-11, 21:39

Ahzoh wrote:Isn't there already the Conlangers WorkShop that Hashi made? It does all that, except some features, like synonym searching...


It does a lot of this, but not all of it. A few big difference are: 1) mine should be able to handle different character sets and fonts, which can be user made (difficult for a website to handle gracefully) 2) save files locally 3) support user defined vocabulary types (in addition to the typical ones) d) scroll through words easily, without having to wait for loads 4) support sound files for pronunciation guides 5) allow for presentable documentation and grammar guides to be distributed with the dictionaries.

And it'll hopefully also be able to support other features that I'm not able to think of, but others might suggest as useful. ^^

Wario Toad 32
Posts:13
Joined:2015-10-18, 18:53
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Wario Toad 32 » 2016-08-16, 18:53

Is there any other good ones besides CWS that have the ability to hold a Conlangs phonology, orthography, dictionary, IPA, and translations all in one site or is CWS the only site that can do that that exists on the Internet?

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Dormouse559 » 2016-08-17, 0:12

I haven't tried it, but there's also Lexiconga. Here's a link to its thread on the CBB (http://aveneca.com/cbb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5088) and one to the actual website (http://lexicon.ga). It apparently performs a lot of the same dictionary functions as CWS and allows you to add a wiki-like description of the language. I don't see a translation feature or the forum elements of CWS, though.

Draque also eventually created their own tool (this thread), but it appears to be a download rather than a website. I haven't tried this tool either, and Draque hasn't posted about it in some time.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

Wario Toad 32
Posts:13
Joined:2015-10-18, 18:53
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Wario Toad 32 » 2016-08-17, 2:07

It might work

Wario Toad 32
Posts:13
Joined:2015-10-18, 18:53
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Wario Toad 32 » 2016-08-17, 2:15

When I try to make an account on lexiconga keeps on telling me that my email address is already in use and I tried using my other email addresses and it's saying the same thing.

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Dormouse559 » 2016-08-17, 2:23

That sounds like a problem with the website, then. It looks like there's a github page for reporting issues. You could try there.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

Wario Toad 32
Posts:13
Joined:2015-10-18, 18:53
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Wario Toad 32 » 2016-08-17, 2:55

Would I need to make an account.

User avatar
Dormouse559
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:6939
Joined:2010-05-30, 0:06
Real Name:Matthew
Gender:male
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Dormouse559 » 2016-08-17, 3:09

I guess so. The only other option I can think of is posting on the CBB thread I linked to. That requires a CBB account. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do to help you with this. Lexiconga isn't my creation; I have no control over it or contact with the owner.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.

Wario Toad 32
Posts:13
Joined:2015-10-18, 18:53
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Creating Conlang Tool

Postby Wario Toad 32 » 2016-08-17, 3:49

I got it to work

http://lexicon.ga/195


Return to “Conlangs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests