Date:     Tue, 3 Aug 1993 00:14:19 -0400

From: David Heap <heap[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EPAS.UTORONTO.CA>

Subject:   atlas software?



My current research into Romance clitic clusters will involve

setting up a database of forms drawn primarily from linguistic

atlases of France, Italy, Spain etc. I am presently having some

difficulty in deciding on a software package which suits my

needs. Ideally, I would like to be able to design a database that

allows me to enter and process largish amounts of heterogenous

and variable data, and then display the results in ways that

allow me to draw both geolinguistic generalizations (which

clitics occur where etc.) and morphosyntactic generalizations

(what clusters occur in which positions etc.). My statistical

needs are fairly basic, and there are no sociolinguistic

variables (apart from location) to factor in. Right now, I am

trying to evaluate the following choices:



1. Database packages designed for social scientists (SAS, Systat

etc.), which have far more sophisticated statistical capacities

than I foresee needing, but which do allow rather easily for

redisplaying results on geographic maps.



2. Commercial database packages (Quatro, Paradox, etc.), which

seem rather simpler to get up and running, but which do not

provide in any obvious way to display results on maps.



I have also seen a few references to G[eographic] I[nformation] S[ystems],

but at this point, it is not quite clear to me what sorts of databases

they can use as input.



  Any comments on these choices? What about other options

which I haven't mentioned (I'm sure these are at least as

numerous)? Or a combination of approaches? I apologize if this

query sounds like reinventing the methodological wheel; I need to

make a fairly firm decision before the end of August.



   Any other practical information about Romance dialectology,

particularly in Spain, would be greatly appreciated. Please reply

to me personally, since I may have to set my subscription to

NOMAIL in the near future; I will post a summary eventually if

there is enough interest.



Many thanks in advance,



David Heap

University of Toronto

heap[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epas.utoronto.ca





Date:     Wed, 4 Aug 1993 10:02:00 GMT

From: ENG0997[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VAX2.QUEENS-BELFAST.AC.UK

Subject:   Re: atlas software?



See:



J.M. kirk and W.A. Kretzschmar, Jr. 'Interactive Linguistic Mapping of

Dialect Features', in Literary and Linguistic Computing, vol. 7, no. 3,

1992, pp. 168-175



and



Vol. 1 of the Proceedings of the International Congress of Dialectologists,

Bamberg, 29.7-4.8.1990, edited by W. Viereck (ZDL Beiheft 74), especially

paper be Hans Geisler for Romance Languages



John Kirk

The Queen's University of Belfast

ENG0997[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]QUB.AC.UK



.