Perkins - The phonetician's assistant
Version 0.4.6.3 beta
Copyright (c) 2012 Scott Sadowsky
ssadowsky at g m a i l dot com
http://sadowsky.cl/
Perkins is software which phonemically transcribes, syllabifies and assigns accents and pauses to orthographic Spanish texts. Other common transcription modes include CV, place of articulation and manner of articulation.
When beta testing is over, Perkins will be licensed under a GNU free software license. In the meantime, to protect the innocent and unwary, it is copyrighted, proprietary software. You may use Perkins to transcribe anything you wish. You may not copy, distribute, modify or reverse engineer it, nor use it in your own programs (for now).
Please send bug reports to this e-mail address.
Installation and use
To process a text using Perkins' default options, unzip the downloaded file and do the following:
Windows executable
- Copy the program to the folder where the text to be processed is located (or copy it to a folder that's on your path, such as C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32, to avoid this hassle).
- Open a command prompt by hitting WINDOWS+R and typing cmd.exe (you can also type this in the Start Menu search box on Vista or later).
- In the command prompt, navigate to the directory with the frequency list using the cd command.
- Type the following: perkins-beta.exe -i sourcetext.txt
GNU/Linux binary
- Make the .pl file executable.
- Copy it to the directory where the text to be processed is located (or to a directory that's on your path).
- Open a terminal window and navigate to the directory that contains the text to be processed.
- Execute the following command: ./perkins-beta.bin -i sourcetext.txt
To change the interface language to English or Spanish, run it with the -eng or -esp switches, respectively.
Getting help
Run Perkins with the -h switch for help, and with the -u switch for usage information.
Keep in mind that the Windows command line cannot correctly display Unicode text, and so non-ASCII characters in the built-in help and usage info will be rather difficult to read on Windows. The README file contains mostly the same information, however.
Also note that this issue in no way affects Perkins' output.
Additional requirements
Input files must be ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) encoded plain text. Output files are UTF-8 (Unicode) plain text. In order to correctly view Perkins' transcriptions, you need the following:
- A Unicode font that supports IPA symbols, such as Charis SIL or Doulos SIL. MS Arial Unicode will do, though it has problems correctly displaying some phonetic symbols and many diacritics.
- A text editor that supports Unicode. Notepad++ is a good, open-source alternative for Windows. Modern versions of MS Word can also be used to open the files Perkins generates.
- Whatever software you use to view the transcriptions, don't forget to set the font accordingly.
General usage information
- Options can be entered with either - or --. The = is optional. Thus, the following all do the same thing:
- perkins.exe --i=inputfile.txt
- perkins.exe -i=inputfile.txt
- perkins.exe -i inputfile.txt
- The order of options and filenames is irrelevant.
- Most binary options can be inverted by inserting 'no' between the hyphen and the option itself (e.g. -mc can be deactivated with -nomc).
- There is no limit on the number of options that can be selected.
- If a filename contains spaces or certain special characters, it must be entered in quotation marks.
- If an output file name is not specified, a name will be automatically
generated using the input file's base name and an extension that
reflects the transcription mode chosen.
Selecting a transcription mode
- The transcription mode to be used can be selected from the command line in two different ways: -f=MODE and -MODE.
- Valid transcription modes are: F, CV, CVG, CVN, M, P, S. See below for details.
Processing options
| -i source.txt --input=source.txt |
Specify the file to be processed. MANDATORY. | |
| -o trans.txt --output=trans.txt |
Specify the file in which to save Perkins' output. If not specified, a name will be automatically generated using the input file basename and a appropriate extension (e.g. .phnm). | |
| -en | Set interface language to English. | |
| -es | Set interface language to Spanish. | |
| -MODE -f MODE --format=MODE |
Specify the transcription format or mode. NOT case-sensitive. The possible modes are: | |
| F or PH (phonemic transcription) | ||
| CV (consonant/vowel transcription) | ||
| CVG (consonant/vowel/glide transcription) | ||
| CVN (cons/vowel/nasal/liquid/rhotic/glide) | ||
| M or MANNER (manner of articulation) | ||
| P or PLACE (place of articulation) | ||
| V (voicing) | ||
| -multi, -mc | Use multi-character IPA symbols for some phonemes. | |
| -tg | Treat /tr/ as a single phoneme (use ligature, or represent it as voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/, depending on the setting of -mc). | |
| -yf | Represent the "ye" phoneme as the fricative /ʝ/. | |
| -ya | Represent the "ye" phoneme as the affricate /d͡ʒ/. | |
| -ar | Use the "retracted" diacritic in some affricates (e.g. t̠͡ʃ). | |
| -gd, --glides-dia | Represent glides as vowel + the "non-syllabic" diacritic (/i̯/ and /u̯/). | |
| -nogd, --noglides-dia | Represent glides as /j/ and /w/. | |
| -wv | Represent wau as u + the "non-syllabic" diacritic (/u̯/). | |
| -yv | Represent yod as i + the "non-syllabic" diacritic (/i̯/). | |
| -st | Mark stress with tilde over vowel rather than IPA apostrophe-like symbol. | |
| -oa | Mark stress with orthographic apostrophe, rather than the similar IPA symbol. | |
| -sd, --syl-dots | Mark syllable divisions with dots (periods). | |
| -ss, --syl-spaces | Represent syllable divisions with spaces. | |
| -sbu | Syllabify by utterance/sentence, not by word ("los hombres" becomes /lo.som.bres/ instead of /los om.bres/) | |
| -nosbu | Syllabify by word, not by utterance/sentence ("los hombres" becomes /los om.bres/ instead of /lo.som.bres/) | |
| -ip, --ipa-pauses | Represent pauses / groups with the IPA symbols | and ||. | |
| -cmp | Treat commas as pauses. | |
| -clp | Treat colons as pauses. | |
| -scp | Treat semicolons as pauses. | |
| -snp | Treat sentence breaks as pauses. | |
| -ppp | Treat paragraph breaks as pauses. | |
| -elp | Treat ellipses (...) as pauses. | |
| -brp | Treat square brackets [] as pauses. | |
| -pnp | Treat parentheses as pauses. | |
| -n2w | Convert numerals into word form ("4" is converted into "cuatro", which is then transcribed). | |
| -sn=SYMBOL | Replace numerals with the SYMBOL specified here. | |
| -cur=TEXT | Replace the $ symbol with the TEXT specified here. | |
| -sl=TEXT | Replace the "/" symbol with the TEXT specified here. | |
| -nsm, --no-stress-marks | Do not indicate stress in any way. | |
| -pu | Process URLs as linguistic items. Otherwise, they're deleted. If treated linguistically, common items such as "Gmail", "Facebook", "http" and "www" are transcribed as commonly pronounced, while other things are transcribed as they would be pronounced if spelled out loud. | |
| -pe | Process e-mail addresses as linguistic items. Otherwise, they're deleted. | |
| -owl | One word per line (split at words). | |
| -osl | One syllable per line (split at syllables). | |
| -kp | Keep paragraph breaks. Otherwise, output will be a wall of text. | |
| -kc | Eliminate common words (for testing purposes). | |
| -nyr | Treat two groups of 4 digits separated by "-" as a range of years ("1900-2000" > "1900 a 2000", not "1900 menos 2000"). | |
| -byr | Treat two groups of 1 to 4 digits separated by "-" as a range of years ("43-103" > "43 a 103", not "43 menos 103"). | |
| -ayr | Treat ALL groups of 1 to 4 digits separated by a "-" as ranges of years. | |
| -bcy | Also process BCE years. | |
| -rt, --corpus | For processing corpora of running text. | |
| -sl, --syl-list | For creating transcriptions that permit easy processing at the syllable level. | |
| -vrt | For processing verticalized text (one word per line of input). Can't perform all analyses (e.g. expanding abbreviations). | |
| -wl, --word-list | For processing word lists (syllabifies at word level, not sentence level). | |
Usage examples
Below are some examples of the different types of transcription that Perkins can produce. In order to correctly view the IPA symbols, your browser must support Unicode and you must have an appropriate font installed. The text transcribed in all cases is:
En Concepción, se trata de aguantar la lluvia durante 5 meses del año. ¿Cachái?
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.ˈsjon | se.ˈt̪ɾa.t̪a.d̪e.a.gwan.ˈt̪aɾ.la.ˈʝu.bja. d̪u.ˈɾan.t̪e.ˈsin.ko.ˈme.ses.d̪e.ˈla.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈt͡ʃaj |
|
| Description: | Default options. Phonemic transcription. Affricates have ligature. Yod and wau are represented as /j/ and /w/. IPA stress apostrophe. Dentals have diacritic. Multi-character symbols (e.g. /t͡ʃ/). Utterance-level processing. The "ye" phoneme is transcribed as /ʝ/. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -at | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.sjón | se.t̪ɾá.t̪a.d̪e.a.gwan.t̪áɾ.la.ʝú.bja. d̪u.ɾán. t̪e.sín.ko.mé.ses.d̪e.lá.ɲo ‖ ka.t͡ʃáj |
|
| Description: | Stress accent is marked with a tilde on the vowel instead of an IPA apostrophe before the syllable. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -ya | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.ˈsjon | se.ˈt̪ɾa.t̪a.d̪e.a.gwan.ˈt̪aɾ.la.ˈd͡ʒu.bja. d̪u.ˈɾan.t̪e.ˈsin.ko.ˈme.ses.d̪e.ˈla.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈt͡ʃaj |
|
| Description: | The "ye" phoneme is transcribed as the affricate /d͡ʒ/. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -ya -ar | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.ˈsjon | se.ˈt̪ɾa.t̪a.d̪e.a.gwan.ˈt̪aɾ.la.ˈd̠͡ʒu.bja.d̪u.ˈɾan. t̪e.ˈsin.ko.ˈme.ses.d̪e.ˈla.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈt̠͡ʃaj |
|
| Description: | The "retracted" diacritic is used to represent the affricates /d̠͡ʒ/ and /t̠͡ʃ/. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -ya -tg | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.ˈsjon | se.ˈt̪͡ɾa.t̪a.d̪e.a.gwan.ˈt̪aɾ.la.ˈd͡ʒu.bja.d̪u.ˈɾan. t̪e.ˈsin.ko.ˈme.ses.d̪e.ˈla.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈt͡ʃaj |
|
| Description: | The "tr" cluster is treated as a phoneme (which is how it behaves in many Chilean speakers). | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -ya -tg -nomc | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.ˈsjon | se.ˈʂa.ta.de.a.gwan.ˈtaɾ.la.ˈʤu.bja.du.ˈɾan.te. ˈsin.ko.ˈme.ses.de.ˈla.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈʧaj |
|
| Description: | Phonemes are represented only with one-character symbols (/ʤ/; /ʧ/; /ʂ/ instead of /t̪͡ɾ/) except for glides, which may be configured separately with the -gd and -nogd switches. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -gd | |
| Transcription: | en.kon.sep.ˈsi̯on | se.ˈt̪ɾa.t̪a.d̪e.a.gu̯an.ˈt̪aɾ.la.ˈʝu.bi̯a.d̪u.ˈɾan.t̪e. ˈsin.ko.ˈme.ses.d̪e.ˈla.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈt͡ʃai̯ |
|
| Description: | Transcribe glides as vowel + "non-syllabic diacritic" (/i̯/, /u̯/) instead of /j/ and /w/. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -nospe | |
| Transcription: | en kon.sep.ˈsjon | se ˈt̪ɾa.t̪a d̪e a.gwan.ˈt̪aɾ la ˈʝu.bja d̪u.ˈɾan.t̪e ˈsin.ko ˈme.ses d̪el ˈa.ɲo ‖ ka.ˈt͡ʃaj |
|
| Description: | Syllabify at word-level rather than utterance/sentence-level. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -cv | |
| Transcription: | VC.CVC.CVC.ˈCVVC | CV.ˈCCV.CV.CV.V.CVVC.ˈCVC.CV.ˈCV.CVV.CV.ˈCVC. CV.ˈCVC.CV.ˈCV.CVC.CVC.ˈV.CV ‖ CV.ˈCVV |
|
| Description: | Analyze input in terms of consonant/vowel. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -cvg | |
| Transcription: | VC.CVC.CVC.ˈCGVC | CV.ˈCCV.CV.CV.V.CGVC.ˈCVC.CV.ˈCV.CGV.CV.ˈCVC. CV.ˈCVC.CV.ˈCV.CVC.CVC.ˈV.CV ‖ CV.ˈCVG |
|
| Description: | Analyze input in terms of consonant/vowel/glide. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -cvn | |
| Transcription: | VN.CVN.CVC.ˈCGVN | CV.ˈCRV.CV.CV.V.CGVN.ˈCVR.LV.ˈCV.CGV.CV.ˈRVN. CV.ˈCVN.CV.ˈNV.CVC.CVL.ˈV.NV ‖ CV.ˈCVG |
|
| Description: | Analyze input in terms of consonant/vowel/glide/nasal/lateral/rhotic. | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -m | |
| Transcription: | VN.PVN.FVP.ˈFXVN | FV.ˈPTV.PV.PV.V.PXVN.ˈPVT.LV.ˈFV.PXV.PV.ˈTVN. PV.ˈFVN.PV.ˈNV.FVF.PVL.ˈV.NV ‖ PV.ˈAVX |
|
| Description: | Analyze input in terms of MANNERS of articulation. (P=plosive, N=nasal, R=trill, T=tap/flap, F=fricative, L=lateral, A=affricate, X=approximant, V=vowel). | |
| Command: | ./perkins.pl -i=source.txt -p | |
| Transcription: | -A.V-A.A-B.ˈAP-A | A-.ˈDA-.D-.D-.-.VW-A.ˈD-A.A-.ˈP-.BP-.D-.ˈA-A.D-. ˈA-A.V-.ˈB-.A-A.D-A.ˈ-.P- ‖ V-.ˈT-P |
|
| Description: | Analyze input in terms of PLACES of articulation. (B=bilabial, L=labiodental, D=dental, A=alveolar, T=post-alveolar, P=palatal, V=velar, W=labiovelar, -=vowel). |
Known issue
In all modes but phonemic (i.e. CV, CVGNLR, etc.), syllabification is always performed at the word level.