WordSynth

NAME

wordsynth.pl — Randomly generate words for constructed languages

SYNOPSIS

wordsynth.pl [-N number ] file

DESCRIPTION

WordSynth is a perl script that randomly generates words (actually syllable clusters) based on a language rules file. It was inspired by GDW's Traveller language generation system, but includes many enhancements. While it still takes some work to create a good language rules file, WordSynth makes it easy to perform tweaks and tests until usable results are reliably got. Download the complete wordsynth distribution package from here. It is about 5k, tarred and gzipped.

• The user can specify the language tables more easily, in a simpler, cleaner, and clearer format. Translation from Traveller-style language tables is straightforward and simple.
• Flexibility and power is provided by allowing the user to specify additional forms of syllable structure and placement. Instead of having a basic and alternate table, the user may provide structure tables for syllables occuring at the beginning, middle, or end of the word.
• Consonants are classified by its position within a syllable and by the position of the syllable in the word, resulting in four possible categories. Vowels are also classified in four categories, by position or stress, though the user may use them for other distinctions. This gives the user some ability to specify a language while lowering the probability of illegal combinations.
• User-specified filters, using Perl regular expressions, allow further checking of illegal letter combinations.

Rather than force the user into a table structure designed for rolling d6s by hand, WordSynth takes advantage of weighted values of each possible result. The user merely specifies the letter and its weight. If translating from an original Traveller table, one may simply count the number of times an element occurs and use that as its weight. WordSynth calculates probability on the fly from total weights given for each element in the table versus the weight of each individual element.

For a short and informative introduction to the structure of syllables, see the Wikipedia Syllable article.

Typical Usage

Options and Command-Line Arguments

STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE FILE

WordSynth reads the language file, processing each TYPE..END element in turn. Then it runs through the process of generating each word.

Tables follow the format:

TYPE is one of the following names:

• syllableStressPatterns
• initialSyllables
• internalSyllables
• terminalSyllables
• assimilationFilters
• wordInitialConsonants
• internalInitialConsonants
• wordInitialVowels
• internalStressedVowels
• internalUnstressedVowels
• wordFinalVowels
• internalFinalConsonants
• wordFinalConsonants

The list of elements follows the format:

<element> and <weight> are separated only by a comma (,) character with no whitespace. The <element> is a string of letters, interpreted according to the type of table. <weights> are always integers.

The assimilationFilters table differs from the others in that it is a list of pairs, where the first element is replaced by the second.

Example Table Specifications:

TYPE initialSyllables
A,1
Cv,4
Cvk,2
END

TYPE assimilationFilters
aa,a
ii,i
uu,u
END

TYPE wordInitialConsonants
b,2
br,2
k,1
kl,1
m,1
z,4
zh,2
END

Explanation of Each Table:

syllableStressPatterns:

This table gives weights for the patterns of high (H) or low (L) stress of the syllables in a word, and also the possible number of syllables occuring in a word. The stress patterns is simply a string of H's and L's, one for each syllable, followed by a comma, followed by the weight.

initialSyllables:

This table describes the letter structure of syllables that begin a word. The letter structure will typically be any of A, Ak, Cv, CV, CVk, or Cvk.

internalSyllables:

This table describes the letter structure of syllables that neither begin nor end a word. The letter structure will typically be any of V, v, Vk, vk, cV, cv, cVk, or cvk.

terminalSyllables:

This table describes the letter structure of syllables that terminate a word. The letter structure will typically be any of a, VK, vK, ca, cVK, or cvK.

assimilationFilters:

The assimilation table is intended to be a list of consonant and/or vowel combinations that each word is compared against. The software will replace one combination with another. Thus it is not a standard table, but rather a list of swapping pairs.

wordInitialConsonants:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'C'. Use this table to list the consonants or consonant clusters that are allowed to appear at the beginning of a word.

internalInitialConsonants:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'c'. Use this table to list the consonants or consonant clusters that are allowed to appear at the beginning of a syllable that does not begin the word.

wordInitialVowels:

This table is consulted for letter type 'A'. Use this table to list the vowels that may begin a word.

internalStressedVowels:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'V'. Use this table to list the vowels that may occur in a stressed syllable but do not begin or end the word.

internalUnstressedVowels:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'v'. Use this table to list the vowels that may occur in an unstressed syllable but do not begin or end the word.

wordFinal Vowels:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'a'. Use this table to list the vowels that may end a word.

internalFinalConsonants:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'k'. Use this table to list the consonants or consonant clusters that are allowed to appear at the end of a syllable that does not terminate a word.

wordFinalConsonants:

This is the table consulted for letter type 'K'. Use this table to list the consonants or consonant clusters that are allowed to appear at the end of a word.

Notes on Terminology:

A syllable may consist of an onset (C or c), a nucleus (V, v, A, or a), and a coda (K or k). Languages can be differentiated not only by the list of possible consonant and vowel combinations, but also by whether the onset or coda is optional or mandatory. The nucleus is mandatory. Wordsynth also allows the language designer to decide which syllable constructs may appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

The term vowel as used in this documents should perhaps be sonorant, and may include monophthongs, diphthongs, or triphthongs, as well as approximants or nasal consonants.

The term consonant may include a single consonant or digraph, or a consonant cluster.

Syllable stress patterns in wordsynth are sonorant-based. Future development may take into account moraic theory by adding additional tables of consonants.

View a complete sample language file (and try to guess the source of the words it attempts to imitate). This is called ExampleX in the Wordsynth Online script, if you want to see it in action. Additional examples are in the distribution file.

TRY IT ONLINE! (Updated Jul 26, 2003)

You can check out some sample output from pregenerated language files by using the wordsynth online cgi script.