Computer Tools for Phonetic Analysis: LAMSAS

在过去的五年里，在小型计算机上显示和打印语音以及处理语音数据已经成为可能。现在的问题是整合小型计算机工具，以最大限度地利用技术进步。该项目将为商业软件建立有效的方法，以便从中南大西洋国家语言地图集(LAMSAS)输入、操作、分析和打印美国英语的语音数据。首席调查员应用商业软件显示和打印语音数据，并用商业数据库程序设计了语音数据的数据结构。LAMSAS数据库的150万个回复需要快速、准确的方法来输入语音数据，现在很难用键盘输入。将开发有效的方法，将极其可变的语音字符串划分为类别，以便将类别(以数字编码)与LAMSAS告密者的特征与商业高级统计程序包相关联。最后，将设计将文字处理、数据库和统计软件的输出整合在一起的方法，以生成供出版的随时可拍照的副本。这些方法将立即用于语言学家的语音学研究，因为所有设备和软件都很容易获得，成本很低，而且所有程序都很容易移植到数据库研究中。

ABSTRACT In the past five years it has become possible to display and print phonetics and to manipulate phonetic data on small com- puters. The problem now is to integrate small computer tools to take best advantage of technological advances. This project will establish efficient methods for commercial software to enter, manipulate, analyze, and print phonetic data on American English from the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS). The Principal Investigator has applied commercial software to display and print phonetic data, and has designed a data structure for phonetic data with a commercial database program. The 1.5 million responses of the LAMSAS data-base require fast, accurate methods to enter phonetic data, now difficult to keyboard. Efficient methods will be developed to divide extremely variable strings of phonetics into classes in order to correlate the classes (numerically coded) with the characteristics of LAMSAS informants with a commercial advanced statistics package. Finally, methods will be designed to integrate the output of word processing, database, and statistical software to generate camera-ready copy for publication. The methods will be of immediate use to linguists for research on phonetics because all equipment and software is readily available at low cost and all procedures are readily portable for database research.