How to Analyze Syllabification and Insert Hyphens with Asheninka
Asheninka is a powerful linguistic tool designed to help researchers and language enthusiasts explore various syllabification algorithms and insert discretionary hyphens in word lists for typesetting text. Using Asheninka can be an engaging process, much like playing a game. By setting up your project correctly and following a series of steps, you can achieve optimal results in both linguistic research and practical applications.
Steps
Install Asheninka
Follow steps on How to Install Asheninka
Setting Up Your Project
Setting up your project in Asheninka is like preparing the board for a game. You’ll need to ensure all the elements are in place before you start.
- Create a New Project
- Open Asheninka and go to
File
>New
to create a new project. - If you have an existing project similar to your new one, you can use
File
>Save As
to duplicate it.
- Open Asheninka and go to
- Set Font and Sort Order
- Navigate to
Settings
to configure the font and sort order for both the vernacular and analysis languages.
- Navigate to
- Check Segment Inventory
- Ensure the Segment Inventory includes all the segments in your orthography. Add necessary environments for graphemes within segments.
- For the Onset-Nucleus-Coda approach, check the appropriate boxes for each segment.
- Assign Natural Classes or Sonority Hierarchy
- Place each segment in a natural class for the CV pattern approach or within the sonority hierarchy for other approaches.
- Create CV Syllable Patterns
- Define CV Syllable Patterns that reflect the syllable structure of the language, including vowel-initial syllables if applicable.
- Set Syllabification Parameters
- Configure the parameters needed for your chosen syllabification approach.
- Write Rules for Nuclear Projection Approach
- If using the Nuclear Projection approach, write the necessary syllabification rules.
- Create Constraints for Optimality Theory
- For the Optimality Theory approach, develop and rank the constraints.
- Import or Enter Words
- Import a list of words or enter them manually.
- Back Up Your Project
- Regularly back up your project using
File
>Project Management
>Back up this project
.
- Regularly back up your project using
Playing the Game
Now that your project is set up, it’s time to “play the game” by parsing and analyzing your word list.
- Parse All Words
- Use
Parser
>Parse all Words
to syllabify the words in the current view.
- Use
- Review Results
- Sort by the
Parser Result
column to identify words that failed to parse correctly. - Make frequent labeled backups to preserve progress.
- Sort by the
- Adjust and Retry
- If a word doesn’t parse as expected, adjust segments, syllable patterns, or parameters. Re-parse and evaluate the changes.
- Restore from backups if necessary.
Additional Tools and Tips
To enhance your gameplay, use the following tools and tips to refine your project further.
- Compare Implementations
- Use
Tools
>Compare Implementations
to compare different project states and identify changes.
- Use
- Test Individual Words
- Use
Parser
>Try a Word
to test specific words and troubleshoot parsing issues.
- Use
- Find Patterns
- Utilize
Tools
>Find Word
and other filters to detect patterns and understand data better.
- Utilize
- Manual Corrections
- Use the
Predicted vs. Correct
view to identify and manually correct problematic words. Not all words need perfect parsing, especially loan words or misspellings.
- Use the
- Set Correct Syllabification
- Use
Tools
>Predicted
to correct syllabification before exporting results for more efficient processing.
- Use
By following these steps, you can effectively use Asheninka to explore syllabification algorithms and prepare word lists for typesetting with accurate hyphenation. For more detailed information, refer to the User Documentation within the program under Help
> User Documentation
.
For further assistance, contact us at asheninka_support@sil.org. Enjoy playing and learning with Asheninka!