Lexical Import¶

Target competencyCan disambiguate and import language data into current lexical software.

Why it matters¶

Lexicons are, by nature, structured documents. Various standards have been proposed, used, and abandoned over the years. This specialist competency involves disambiguation (removing any doubt about the classification and relationship) of data and importation into a modern lexicography program. This is often a non-trivial task when importing poorly structured or unstructured data. Once the data is clean, structured, and in an appropriate encoding, it can then be imported into a modern lexicography tool.

Progression¶

Each rung is a level a learner is at; its activities are what carries them to the next one. How to read these levels

General¶

0No Competency

Identify legacy markup commonly used in language data for your entity (SFM, MDF, LIFT, etc.)

Carries a learner to 1 — Has Knowledge
1Has Knowledge

Understand how to restructure lexical data to make it unambiguous and learn to use relevant import/conversion tools

Carries a learner to 2 — With Assistance
2With Assistance

Use automated processes to restructure and disambiguate lexical data and import into a current lexical database

Carries a learner to 3 — Independent
3Independent

Teach others to disambiguate and import lexical data into structured lexical tools.

Carries a learner to 4 — Expert
4Expert

Convert unformatted dictionaries (e.g., Word, PDF) into a structured format and import them into the recommended tool.

Top of the ladder

Description¶

Knowledge to import language data into current lexical software.

Further Information¶

Technical Notes on SFM Database ImportDocument · software.sil.orgTechnical notes PDF on importing Standard Format (SFM) databases into FieldWorks, for planning a lexical import.
Request Help with Dictionary Conversion into FLExSite · webonary.orgWebonary page for requesting help converting an existing dictionary into FLEx.
SolidSite · software.sil.orgHome of Solid, SIL software that checks and cleans SFM lexicon files and exports them to LIFT before import.
SheetsweeperSite · software.sil.orgHome of SheetSwiper, which converts spreadsheets of linguistic data to Standard Format for import into lexical tools.