Oijon Dev Log - Susquehanna 0.0.1

12/25/2022

Apologies about the lack of updates here! Unfortunately I got rather sick, so I wasn't able to update here... However, there's been quite a bit added to Susquehanna recently, so here's a list:

• A font change
• A slight logo change
• Button redesign
• Ability to create and load languages
• Working logs
• PHOSYS files

The thing I'm most excited about is PHOSYS files. PHOSYS is a markup language designed for Susquehanna specifically for phonology systems! This might not sound all that exciting at first, but let's get into the details!

PHOSYS allows the very easy sharing of phonology systems, along with a theoretically infinite amount of tables. That means that if you have, say, an alien species that doesn't really have vowels, but has two other things that aren't consonants either, PHOSYS can support it! As long as each symbol stays at 1 character, there shouldn't be any problems with the arrangement of any vocal tract when creating a PHOSYS file. The structure of the document is a bit rigid, but despite that it's quite flexible! Here is an example PHOSYS file for IPA:

1. ===PHOSYS Start===
2. name:IPA
3. ===PhonoTable Start===
4. tableName:IPA Consonants
5. columnNames:Bilabial,Labiodental,Dental,Alveolar,Postalveolar,Retroflex,Palatal,Velar,Uvular,Pharyngeal,Glottal
6. soundsPerCell:2
7. rowNames:Plosive,Nasal,Trill,Tap or Flap,Fricative,Lateral Fricative,Approximant,Lateral Approximant
8. pb****td**ʈɖcɟkɡqɢ*#ʔ#
9. *m*ɱ***n***ɳ*ɲ*ŋ*ɴ####
10. *ʙ*****r******##*ʀ**##
11. ***ⱱ***ɾ***ɽ**##****##
12. ɸβfvθðszʃʒʂʐçʝxɣχʁħʕhɦ
13. ####**ɬɮ**********####
14. ***ʋ***ɹ***ɻ*j*ɰ****##
15. ####***l***ɭ*ʎ*ʟ**####
16. ===PhonoTable End===
17. ===PhonoTable Start===
18. tableName:IPA Vowels
19. columnNames:Front,Central,Back
20. soundsPerCell:2
21. rowNames:Close,Near Close,Close Mid,Mid,Open Mid,Close Open,Other
22. iyɨʉɯu
23. ɪʏ***ʊ
24. eøɘɵɤo
25. **ə***
26. ɛœɜɞʌɔ
27. æ*ɐ***
28. aɶ**ɑɒ
29. ===PhonoTable End===
30. ===PhonoTable Start===
31. tableName:IPA Non-Pulmonics
32. columnNames:No column names
33. soundsPerCell:1
34. rowNames:Click,Implosive,Other
35. ʘǀǃǂǁ#####
36. ɓɗʄɠʛ#####
37. ʍwɥʜʢʡɕʑɺɧ
38. ===PhonoTable End===
39. ===PHOSYS End===

Now, lets go through that line-by-line, to see what each part does:

• ===PHOSYS Start=== - Tells Susquehanna that this is in fact a PHOSYS file, and not just some random file put into the phonoSystems folder
• name:IPA - This sets the name of the phonology system. Useful for picking a system inside the Phonology tab.
• ===PhonoTable Start=== - Tells Susquehanna that the following data is going to be a PhonoTable, a part of the phonology system that helps organize various sounds such as consonants or vowels into a category that they can then be compared with
• tableName:IPA Consonants - I'd say this is self-explanitory, sets the name of the table. Useful when view phonology systems in the Phonology tab.
• columnNames:Bilabial,Labiodental,Dental,Alveolar,Postalveolar,Retroflex,Palatal,Velar,Uvular,Pharyngeal,Glottal - This sets the names of each column. Useful for displaying tables in the Phonology tab.
• soundsPerCell:2 - Sets the amount of sounds that are in each cell by default. This helps make sure that the table does not end up with unnamed columns.
• rowNames:Plosive,Nasal,Trill,Tap or Flap,Fricative,Lateral Fricative,Approximant,Lateral Approximant - This sets the names of each row. Useful for displaying tables in the Phonology tab.
• pb****td**ʈɖcɟkɡqɢ*#ʔ# - This, and lines that look similar to it, define the data of the table. Each row will be x * y long, where x is the amount of column names, and y is the amount of sounds per cell. When there is a cell that is meant to be empty, * and # are used. * is used when the sound is possible to make, but there is no symbol. # is used when a sound is impossible to make.
• ===PhonoTable End=== - This marks the end of a PhonoTable. Used to make sure that the next table is not used as data for the previous table.

So that's why I'm so excited about PHOSYS files, once I get the Phonology tab done I'll start making public releases!

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