The LANGUAGE menu

1. Language classification

Classification

displays the family and group of the language named in the edit field of the dialogue box. The current language is chosen by default. Any new language name which is entered becomes the current language, provided it occurs in the database.

2. System analysis

Inventory

lists and counts all the segments of the language named in the edit field of the dialogue box. The current language is chosen by default. Any new language name which is entered becomes the current language, provided it occurs in the database. The check-box Normal phonemes (checked by default) prevents the display of anomalous segments. When the box is unchecked all the segments of the language - including rare ones, loans etc. - are displayed.

Subsystem

lists and counts all the segments of the language named in the first edit field of the dialogue box which meet the feature conditions provided in the second. The feature conditions must be expressed as a list, in square brackets, of feature names separated by commas. The order of the features is not significant. Features with negative values, such as -bilabial, are permitted in order more easily to exclude certain segment types. (UPSID itself uses only unary features). Extra control on segment selection is provided by the check-box Normal phonemes which is checked by default. Users unfamiliar with the feature set used in UPSID may reset the feature conditions by issuing the command Reset features, see below.

Shape

identifies the number of distinctions found in selected phonetic parameters when the segments of the current language, which meet the given feature conditions, are examined. One or more phonetic parameters may be selected by clicking or shift-clicking in the scrolling list provided. Feature conditions to establish the required subsystem are entered in the second edit field (as in Subsystem above), and the check-box Normal phonemes is used as in previous commands.

3. System display

General

Three separate window formats are used to handle the different segment types.

• Vowels are plotted as points in a matrix whose horizontal and vertical axes represent:
  • tonality (front unrounded, front rounded, central unrounded, central rounded, back unrounded, back rounded)
  • height (high, lowered high, higher mid, mid, lower mid, raised low, low)

• Consonants are similarly plotted in larger matrix with the horizontal and vertical dimensions:

  e

  • place (bilabial, labio_dental, dental, dental_alveolar, alveolar, palato_alveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, glottal, labial_palatal, labial_velar, dental_palatal)
  • manner (ejective stop, plosive, ejective affricate, affricate, click, affricated click, implosive, ejective fricative, fricative, nasal, lateral approximant, flap, tap, trill, r_sound, approximant).

• Diphthongs are plotted in the same matrix as vowels but are represented by a line (rather than a point). The line has a direction, moving from a square (the source) to a circle (the target).

In all plot windows, the language name is provided below the corresponding plot. A list (in square brackets) identifies any features which have been chosen to restrict the set of phonemes displayed. An empty list [ ] indicates that no such features have been chosen.

Display commands

Plot all

provides two dimensional plots of the vowel and consonant systems of the current language (named in the edit field of the dialogue box). Consonants, vowels or diphthongs (or all three by default) are chosen by clicking (or shift-clicking) the appropriate buttons. The check-box Normal phonemes is used as in Subsystem. The use of pointers in these graphic windows is described under the commands for the different window types below.

Vowels

provides the same display as Plot all for the vowels of a language but allows for more detailed sub-system selection by clicking (or shift_clicking) the secondary articulation features in the scrolling list. The selected feature list is displayed in the window below the language name.

If New window is checked, the display is generated in a new window immediately over the original vowel window. This new window can be dragged to one side so that comparisons of subsystems with different feature conditions can be made. Surplus windows may be hidden (using Hide... in the MacProlog Windows menu) or closed using the close box (but see the advice under Kill hidden windows below). Closed or hidden graphic windows may be retrieved using the MacProlog Select window... command also in the Windows menu.

Clicking on a segment symbol (a filled cell) in a vowel window generates a message identifying:

1. the features corresponding to the cell (the cell label)
2. the set of segments (there may be more than one) occupying that cell position.

Consonants

The dialog for generating consonant displays parallels that for vowels in all but the list of secondary articulations: the pointer in the graphocs window functions in exactly the same manner.

Diphthongs

Here again the same dialog pattern is used, but, in a graphics window for diphthongs, two different pointers are available. With the arrow pointer selected, clicking on a filled cell generates a message showing:

1. the features of the cell as source
2. the target positions (if any) aimed at by diphthongs from that source

With the target pointer selected, the corresponding message identifies:

1. the features of the cell as target and
2. the sources of diphthongs (if any) aimed at that target.

Whenever the selected cell contains segments with secondary features not shown in the cell label (e.g. nasalized), these features appear (abbreviated and asterisked) in initial sub-bundles grouped with the corresponding target (or source) features.

Axes

This command provides a simple reminder of the ordering of fetaures on the axes in the various display windows.

Printing graphics windows

UPSID graphic windows can be chosen for printing using the standard MacProlog Print... command from the File menu. When the print dialogue appears, click the check-box Graphic click the button Select ..., and choose the required windows from the scrolling list. Normal Macintosh screen dumps to MacPaint format files (using <command> <shift> 3) are obviously also possible.