4.0472 Queries (4/75)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 11 Sep 90 23:36:06 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0472. Tuesday, 11 Sep 1990.


(1) Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 13:23:39 -0400 (25 lines)
From: Mark Rooks <rooks@cs.unc.edu>
Subject: Latin spell-checker?

(2) Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 13:12:45 EDT (20 lines)
From: pdk@iris.brown.edu (Paul D. Kahn)
Subject: Mongolian script on computer

(3) Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 15:12:56 PDT (13 lines)
From: MTRILEY@CALSTATE (Mark Timothy Riley)
Subject: query about Ledger _Recounting Plato_

(4) Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 14:48:37 CDT (17 lines)
From: Charles Ess <DRU001D@SMSVMA>
Subject: Numbers in the Odyssey

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 13:23:39 -0400
From: Mark Rooks <rooks@cs.unc.edu>
Subject: Latin spell-checker?

Does anyone know of the existence of a 17th century (or thereabout)
Latin spell-checker or word list (which we could of course immediately
transform into a spell-checker)?

A group of us are generating the complete works of Spinoza in Latin (and
Dutch with some Hebrew) and the complete works of Descartes in Latin (and
French and authorized French translation of the Latin). We have generated
between 500K and 1 MB of flawless text so far, but from that gleaned
only about 15,000 unique word forms, too few to make a useful spell-checker.
Any help would be appreciated. (The project is primarily commercial, but
with partial funding and assistance from the non-profit world.)

Mark Rooks

Per bonum id intelligam, quod certo scimus nobis esse utile. Spinoza,
_Ethices_ Pars IV.

rooks@cs.unc.edu or
70671.1673@compuserve.com


(2) --------------------------------------------------------------32----
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 13:12:45 EDT
From: pdk@iris.brown.edu (Paul D. Kahn)
Subject: Mongolian script on computer

Does anyone have any information about software that can support Old
Mongolian script on any kind of computer? I am trying to help out a
visitor from the Academy of Science in the Mongolian People's Republic,
who is hoping to develop a system for reading and writing Old Mongolian
script on computers. In the 1940s the Mongolians switched over to using
the Cyrillic alphabet for printing their language, and as part of the
political changes they are hoping to revive the use of their own script.
Any information on past or present software in this area would be greatly
appreciated.

Paul Kahn
Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship
Brown University Box 1946
Providence RI 02912
401 863-2402
pdk@iris.brown.edu
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------21----
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 15:12:56 PDT
From: MTRILEY@CALSTATE (Mark Timothy Riley)
Subject: query about Ledger _Recounting Plato_

I have just been reading a computer analysis of Plato, by Ledger
_Recounting Plato_ a study of the authenticity of certain
pseudo-Platonica (Letters, Epinomis) and the chronology of the works,
all using MVA analysis of the style (actually the frequency of the use
of certain letters within and at the end of words). I think Ledger did
an excellent job, bt honestly I don't understand most of the statistics.
Is anyone reparing a review of this book (Oxford 1989) or is anyone
willing to submit a note about it.
Mark Riley
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------23----
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 14:48:37 CDT
From: Charles Ess <DRU001D@SMSVMA>
Subject: Numbers in the Odyssey

A bright and observant student noted that the number 20 appears
frequently in the Odyssey (20 years gone; 20 suitors picked for the
journey after Telemachus, etc.) Colleagues in literature here,
including a classicist, are as clueless as I am as meaning(s).

Do any Humanist readers have helpful information -- either recollected
knowledge or references -- to help us respond to the student's wonderful
observation and query, "What does it mean?"

Thanks in advance,

Charles Ess
Drury College