New Lakota Dictionary Online (NLD-O)

[admin]

New Lakota Dictionary Online (NLD-O)

We are happy to announce the official launching of the New Lakota Dictionary Online.
You can now enjoy using the electronic version that has many advantages compared to the hard copy.

The online version of NLD has the following features:

• Looking up words is much faster than in the hard copy.
• The Lakota-English and English-Lakota sections are interlinked (i.e. look up the English word, then click on the relevant Lakota counterpart and you are taken directly to its entry). This feature works in Firefox browser but not in Internet Explorer. We will try to enable it in IE.
• The online version is updated and improved (typos and errors found since the publication of NLD have been fixed and the NLD Online is the newer version).
• The online version is larger (many new entries have been added to the database since the publication of NLD and many of them are now included in the online version)
• The online version allows searching for words spelled in the pre-standardized orthographies (e.g. you find toka in an old text, the NLD online will tell you that it can be one of three words: tȟoká, tȟóka and tókȟa). This feature is under preparation.
• The online version finds even conjugated words, i.e. words that don’t have their own entries. This feature is under preparation.


If you think you found an error in NLD we will be grateful if you report it. But please check first in the online version, however, to see if it has been fixed.




The access to the NLD-O has the following restrictions:

• Visitors (people not registered to the forum) can look up only 7 words per day.
• Registered members who haven’t passed the entry test can look up 10 words per day.
• Full members (passed the entry test) have unlimited access.
• Hard working members (Škíŋčiyapi) have unlimited access (in the future they will also have full text search).
• Helpers have unlimited access and in addition they will have more advanced search options.

As an anniversary present all members can view example sentences for a couple of days, but beginning with next week they will be available only to hard working members.


One thing to bear in mind: electronic dictionaries are very convenient because they enable faster look up of words. However, the speed of working with electronic dictionaries and other language tools might cause some users to be less careful when reading and studying the information. The good “old fashioned” approach of studying from books makes students focus better and have a longer attention span. So we ask you to keep this in mind and not become hasty when using the fast tools. Enjoy the NLD-O, but don’t turn its advantages into one huge disadvantage.

Another thing that we would like to ask of you: when you give reference to NLD in your comments and discussions, refer to the entry word rather than the page number (or both if you choose). The NLD-O has no page numbers so the entry word is the only reference that can be given. If your reference is to the grammar sections in the book then of course you have to use page numbers.

Many thanks go to Konstantine (Kostya) who has been working very hard on programming to make the online version available and functional. Ho čha líla wóphila tȟáŋka uŋkéničiyapi, tȟaŋháŋši. Tóna Lakȟól’iyapi kiŋ lé uŋspéuŋkič’ičhiyapi kiŋ hená líla wačhíŋuŋniyaŋpi.

As of now, the NLD-O works properly only in FireFox. We hope to make it eventually function in Internet Explorer.

The dictionary can be found at this address: http://www.lakotadictionary.org/nldo.php
You can also access it by clicking on NLD-O in the upper right corner of the index page (next to the FAQ link). The VK is not displayed if you use the second method so, if you need to select a regional keyboard, you should right-click the icon and choose between "new window" or "new tab". VK will then be visible and you can select your regional keyboard.



Features in making:

Lemmatizer (will enable searching for any word form)
Conjugation paradigm maker
Spellchecker

[Jan]

Let us know if you enjoy browsing through the New Lakota Dictionary Online. Do you find it convenient? Do you like clicking away from entry to entry?

And if you do, give Kostya some points of appreciation. I think we can't give him enough appreciation for all the programming on the forum and NLD that he has done so far. I know he doesn't like the attention, but he deserves it.

There is more to come with respect to the NLD-O, Kostya is working on the lemmatizer which will enable looking up conjugated words, such as wéksuye (kiksúyA, owíčhauŋkolepi (olé).

[Stephen]

Jan:

There's no question that tȟaŋháŋši Kostya is a very astute and intelligent fellow. His work is dreamy, to the extent that I've used it, and I'd like to use it to the fullest. But I and some can't do that now because the graduated use stipulated for various members above.

I realize that the administrators announced concern is the dearth of advanced speakers. Time and money are tight and the few top guns we have are giving their all for nothing asked. This is not to mention the fact that the Lakota language may be living on borrowed time.

Given this Catch-22, it seems to me - and I speak strictly for myself - that limiting access to any learning tool has to be self-defeating. At worst it sets up something of a caste system over members. I for one have never heard of any member refusing help to anyone.

It's true that as things stand now, if I understand correctly, then I personally have unlimited access to the NLDO up to the lemmatizer and beyond and so I'm practically unaffected by the admin ruling and I'm not feathering my nest. Just my mázaša núŋpa.

All Best to everyone in the coming New Year.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen

[admin]

Thank you for letting us know about your concerns. As this is a complex issue the moderators and administrators will discuss it before an answer is given.

As of now, all full members have the same access level to the NLD-O. We hope they will enjoy it and make the best use of it.

[Rolf]

It is just great.

The linked words are a very helpful feature, especailly as the English side of the page does not disappear while the Lakota half shows the search results. So I am able to compare various solutions. And still it is helpful to have the good old hardcopy at hand.

What I do nor understand is: if I open NLD-O fron the link on top of the forum page, I get a version w/o Lakota keyboard, if I open it with the saved link in my bookmark menu, I get NLD-O showing the virtual keyboard. It might be a minor issue but maybe of interest for tȟaŋháŋši Kostya.

On this occcasion I'd like to give my apologies to Kostya: Although you asked for assistance with your work in the German forum, I was not able to help you. It just was above my understanding abilities and I could not figure out what really had to be done. Waglúšna, tȟaŋháŋši.

[Kostya]

What I do nor understand is: if I open NLD-O fron the link on top of the forum page, I get a version w/o Lakota keyboard, if I open it with the saved link in my bookmark menu, I get NLD-O showing the virtual keyboard. It might be a minor issue but maybe of interest for tȟaŋháŋši Kostya.

-I know. It is a bug, that I should cope with. The links with or without www. prefix has some problems if the VK scripts have different exact address. Security!
so if you click on an NLD-O linke from the page which exact address has www., VK won't be launched, and if it is a page without www. (http: //lakotadictionary.org/ etc.) - everything works.
Will try to fix it tonight.

[Nina]

What I do nor understand is: if I open NLD-O fron the link on top of the forum page, I get a version w/o Lakota keyboard, if I open it with the saved link in my bookmark menu, I get NLD-O showing the virtual keyboard.

Rolf, this was a problem for me too. I need to see VK because I have to select UK keyboard configuration. But you can rightclick on the NLD icon, choose "open in a new tab" and the version with VK appears. The first post in this topic has been edited:

The dictionary can be found at this address: http://www.lakotadictionary.org/nldo.php
You can also access it by clicking on NLD-O in the upper right corner of the index page (next to the FAQ link). The VK is not displayed if you use the second method so, if you need to select a regional keyboard, you should right-click the icon and choose between "new window" or "new tab". VK will then be visible and you can select your regional keyboard.

But I'm certain that Kostya will be able to fix things!

Nina

[Rolf]

Rolf, this was a problem for me too. I need to see VK because I have to select UK keyboard configuration.

Nina, as I wrote, I saw it as a minor issue, because by habit I open NLD-O in a new tab from the bookmark menue. It's just one click more. I just thought, it might be worth mentioning.

But I'm certain that Kostya will be able to fix things!

Nina

If I am sure of anything in this world, than this

[Rolf]

What am I doing wrong?
While discussing a sentence in "The Buffalo Jump" I searched for áyA. NLD-O corrects the stressing and deliveres ayÁ. When become is entered in the English field, áyA shows up there, but a klick on it brings ayÁ again on the Lakota side. Does the software ignore that verb for reasons of sorting?
Anyway it reminded me, that a second look into the hardcopy is quitw helpful.

[Kostya]

What am I doing wrong?
While discussing a sentence in "The Buffalo Jump" I searched for áyA. NLD-O corrects the stressing and deliveres ayÁ. When become is entered in the English field, áyA shows up there, but a klick on it brings ayÁ again on the Lakota side. Does the software ignore that verb for reasons of sorting?
Anyway it reminded me, that a second look into the hardcopy is quitw helpful.

--You're doing nothing wrong, Rolf.
The problem is that currently NLDO has 1. "vague spelling search" and 2. only two results of the search shown.
As a result, all the verbs starting with "aya" are searched and the first to shown that hapeen to be two ayÁ verbs, the third áyA is omitted.
I think I'll fix it today.

[Kostya]

optimized search: it searches first for exact match - so ALL the exact matches (aya) are shown. If no exact match found, the "word-initial search" is done
All in all no less than 3 matches are shown.

[Paha]

Just to add my own two cents to what Stephen said above...

I think his comment bears serious consideration. I see the idea behind the rules as they stand, but here are some qualms I have:

- I really want to get my students using the online dictionary. In fact, their homework over the weekend will be to spend time exploring the dictionary and report back (the assignment is more structured than that, but that is the basic idea). The problem is that that their ability to explore the dictionary freely will be severely constrained by the restrictions that are in place. That leaves me with three options: accept their limitations, give them my login info so that they can get in (not a huge fan of this choice), and find a day to take them all to the computer lab so they can get signed up, tested, etc.

I know the latter option will be seen by many as the most desirable, but I am still in two minds about it. As fifteen year-olds whose marginal interest in Lakota is far down the list of their life's priorities (as much as we wish it were higher...), the chances of any of them becoming contributing members of the Forum in the next several years are slim to none, even for the ones who are really interested in the language. However, I can see them making good use of the online dictionary - if (and this is a big if because they are finicky adolescents) - it is simple to use (which is it, wonderfully) and it can be accessed without a lot of rigamarole. And yes, having to deal with signing up for the forum and the like is just enough complication (in my lengthy experience with the kids) to put them off. And even if I get them successfully registered, I can see a students coming up to me a few months later and wanting the website address so they can look words up, but by then they will have forgotten their login information and will have to start the process all over again (or more likely, just get fed up and say heck with it).

And it is not just students I am thinking of either. I sent out a faculty-wide email yesterday telling teachers about the forum, since all of our staff are asked by the school to try to incorporate the language into their classroom in some degree. But again, many of these teachers do not necessarily have any overriding interest in the language, but they are happy to use it as part of our school's mission statement and to show the students that they believe in its value. And I believe that these same teachers will make use of the dictionary as long as it is an easy and accessible tool, but would quickly get put off by any complication. After all, they've got their own subject matter to worry about already.

I understand that there is a legitimate concern that making the NLD-O universally accessible could severely diminish sales of the dictionary - after all, why buy it when you can get the information for free? But I'm not sure the effect would be that significant. Most people I know who have the dictionary know the value of having it literally in hand - something that has been discussed in this forum before. And from a school perspective, while buying a lot of dictionaries for classroom use can be costly, most teachers and administrators would know instinctually that the NLD-O will not soon replace hard copies. I know of no school that has enough computers and frequent enough access for students for that to happen.

Furthermore, I think the online dictionary might be a way of getting people who wouldn't otherwise purchase a dictionary to consider getting one. Even here on the reservation, spending time with the NLD-O and seeing how well-written and thorough the entries are might be just what some of resistant folks need to convince them that this really is a good product that is worth having. And recognizing the limitations of an online database for browsing, they just might want the real thing. Moreover, it is much easier to spread the word through the internet. Just look at my faculty-wide email yesterday - I was able to give 40 people a link that will send them right to the dictionary (or at least, the few entries they can see unless they choose to register). But if I had told those same 40 people that they should really go to Prairie Edge next time they are in Rapid City and check out the new dictionary...well, I doubt there would have been a high rate of return (and certainly not as instantaneous). But I think the more access people have online, the more positive of an association they will have with the product.

So anyway, sorry to go on and on. I just wanted to speak on behalf of some categories of people who I think would really benefit from increased access. And if universal access is too radical a step, what about expanding the parameters...say from 3 to 10 allowed searches for non-registered users? I think a relatively small change like that might have big positive effects for the casual user (like my students).

Íŋše héčhuŋp-s'e waŋbláke ló.

[admin]

1) your class access

If you get your students to register we can create a PAHA-CLASS group with full access to NLD-O. They don't have to take the entry test. All they have to do is remember their login.
Have your students write "I am a student in Peter Hill's class" in the "about yourself" field during registration.

2) access to NLD-O for your school staff and other people

We can increase the number of look-up for non-registered visitors to 7.

We hope this will be an acceptable solution.

[Paha]

Kȟolá, hé líla onáȟ’uŋ wašté yeló.

Uŋgnáš tȟokáta okó kiŋ héčhuŋwičhawakhiyiŋ kte - wayáwa mitȟáwa kiŋ.

Oȟ'áŋkȟoya amáyalupte kiŋ wóphila héčha yeló.

Paha

PS - Lépȟiŋ kta tkȟa...NLD-O hé líla wašté...yuphíya yakáǧape ló.

[Rolf]

Mitákuyepi,

While working on some translation these days I wanted to use NLD-O. After a few minutes my free look-up contingent was used up so I logged into the forum to get unlimited access to NLD-O.

I was just concentrating on my translation and did not bother about the recent posts in the forum and after a while closed the browser.

When I logged in again in the evening to join the discussion I noticed that I missed the recent posts from before my using the dictionary for of course only those posts made since my last log-in were shown. The same happened to me before, when I was doing excessive NLD-O research and in the meantime got automatically logged out of the forum due to inactivity.

I wonder if it would not be useful to have the opportunity to log-in seperately to NLD-O for learning activities outside the forum. As I pointed out before, NLD is more than just a dictionary and it is quite easy to forget time while roaming through entries and examples.

[Kostya]

Hallo Rolf,

The same happened to me before, when I was doing excessive NLD-O research and in the meantime got automatically logged out of the forum due to inactivity.

Frankly, I can't understand how can it happen, because personally I never get logged out unless I voluntarily do so. There is a checkbox "Log me automatically" when you log in, so you'll be for long, if not for keeps.

I wonder if it would not be useful to have the opportunity to log-in seperately to NLD-O for learning activities outside the forum. As I pointed out before, NLD is more than just a dictionary and it is quite easy to forget time while roaming through entries and examples.

I guess it is possible but rather difficult for me: I use ready-to-use features of the forum, including the authorization means. Authorization here is, essentially, a cookie file at clients side and session file at server side, and they are one and the same for the whole site. So I have to program something separate for that end, instead of the current:

Code: Select all

$user->session_begin();
$auth->acl($user->data);


[Rolf]

Hallo Rolf,
Frankly, I can't understand how can it happen, because personally I never get logged out unless I voluntarily do so. There is a checkbox "Log me automatically" when you log in, so you'll be for long, if not for keeps.

It might be my browser set-up. I thought I allowed cookes for the forum, but I still don't get logged in automatically.

I guess it is possible but rather difficult for me: I use ready-to-use features of the forum, including the authorization means. Authorization here is, essentially, a cookie file at clients side and session file at server side, and they are one and the same for the whole site. So I have to program something separate for that end, instead of the current:

Code: Select all

$user->session_begin();
$auth->acl($user->data);


Kostya, I believe my little inconvenience is not worth you making extra efforts. In the end, it's no trouble to log into the forum and I have to learn some humbleness towards life, even if it's net-life.

[Kostya]

Rolf, I'm inclined to think that your browser does not store cookie for this domain.

[Rolf]

Rolf, I'm inclined to think that your browser does not store cookie for this domain.

So did I. But it does NOW
Hopefully life will become easier now.

[Rolf]

Kostya, I just noticed in NLD-O that under ahíyu the formatting code has gone astray.

BTW, thanks for your hint ref. cookies. I noticed they were allowed for lacotadictionary.org but got deleted after closing the browser.