Sound change appliers in Excel

[Ashtagon]

Possibly a dumb question, but has anyone created a SCA that works inside Excel (or some other spreadsheet)? I've got something that is bare-bones functional inside Excel, but only works with literal text strings (no wildcards or context keys or other smart stuff). I'm hoping the clever people here have already done something more functional.

[Emily]

no sorry, the closest thing i've done in excel is manually ealk through the changes when i can't use the sca for whatever reason

[bradrn]

Possibly a dumb question, but has anyone created a SCA that works inside Excel (or some other spreadsheet)? I've got something that is bare-bones functional inside Excel, but only works with literal text strings (no wildcards or context keys or other smart stuff). I'm hoping the clever people here have already done something more functional.

I’ve made an SCA (three SCAs, actually!), but I wouldn’t dare try to make one in Excel! Why do you need an SCA in a spreadsheet?

no sorry, the closest thing i've done in excel is manually ealk through the changes when i can't use the sca for whatever reason

I’m curious to know what sound changes you’re doing that can’t be done in any current SCA.

[Vardelm]

Why do you need an SCA in a spreadsheet?

I've been considering doing this, but using Google Sheets. I think the actual sound changes would be done using Regex, but I'm a long ways from vocabulary on my current langs, let alone descendant langs. However, the idea was to be able to link the spreadsheets together such that if I did a sound change to an early language, all of its descendants would automatically inherit that change with the click of 1 button. That would allow some quick experimentation of sound changes along several generations. Maybe current SCAs already do this and I'm just not aware since I haven't looked at using SCAs much yet.

[Emily]

no sorry, the closest thing i've done in excel is manually ealk through the changes when i can't use the sca for whatever reason

I’m curious to know what sound changes you’re doing that can’t be done in any current SCA.

it's for when i don't happen to have my sca rules handy, or when i don't have internet access to go to an sca

[Ashtagon]

I’ve made an SCA (three SCAs, actually!), but I wouldn’t dare try to make one in Excel! Why do you need an SCA in a spreadsheet?

Mainly because that's where I store most of my vocabulary notes for my conlang.

Ideally, I'd do my conlanging in one of SIL's products (Toolbox, FLEX, Lexique Pro, etc.), but I have no idea how to make a SCA work nicely with the data files those generate.

[bradrn]

Ideally, I'd do my conlanging in one of SIL's products (Toolbox, FLEX, Lexique Pro, etc.), but I have no idea how to make a SCA work nicely with the data files those generate.

I’ve been planning to add support for MDF files (used by Toolbox and Lexique Pro, and I think FLEX as well) to my own SCA for a while now. I should get on to it.

[Richard W]

Why do you need an SCA in a spreadsheet?

I've been considering doing this, but using Google Sheets. I think the actual sound changes would be done using Regex, but I'm a long ways from vocabulary on my current langs, let alone descendant langs. However, the idea was to be able to link the spreadsheets together such that if I did a sound change to an early language, all of its descendants would automatically inherit that change with the click of 1 button. That would allow some quick experimentation of sound changes along several generations. Maybe current SCAs already do this and I'm just not aware since I haven't looked at using SCAs much yet.

You could also use it to manually select between the results of optional sound changes and insert irregular changes, such as analogical levelling, suffix change and change of inflectional class, and keep a permanent record of your selections.

[Vardelm]

You could also use it to manually select between the results of optional sound changes and insert irregular changes, such as analogical levelling, suffix change and change of inflectional class, and keep a permanent record of your selections.

I like the sound of that!

[fusijui]

Toolbox and FLEX both have pretty flexible/customizable output options, especially Toolbox I think -- Lexique Pro is geared more towards presentation, maybe more awkward to manipulate the data in.

It took me a while to get it right, but eventually I found the right settings (and saved them!) to 1) filter only the records I wanted, 2) export just the fields I wanted, and 3) strip out the MDF field markers from the text file, to get 'just plain word lists' to play with in SCAs. There's no simple one-push button for it in any of the MDF-using systems, but once you've done it a few times it's easier.

I'd never thought about it before, but this Excel kind of functionality does certainly have its appeal and advantage, too... don't think I can contribute, but I'd like to hear how it works out!

[bradrn]

It took me a while to get it right, but eventually I found the right settings (and saved them!) to 1) filter only the records I wanted, 2) export just the fields I wanted, and 3) strip out the MDF field markers from the text file, to get 'just plain word lists' to play with in SCAs. There's no simple one-push button for it in any of the MDF-using systems, but once you've done it a few times it's easier.

As it happens, I just implemented a one-push button in my own sound change applier to do exactly this, though I can’t make any promises as to the release date.

[fusijui]

I use lexicon - parsing - text management software vastly more than I ever actually break out an SCA, so the routine works fine for me... I do like the idea of it, though!