Forschung und wissenschaftliches Rechnen - Beiträge zum - GWDG

example sentences. Furthermore, all languages can be searched by language
name, family and genus name, and country, and any selection of languages
can be displayed on a customizable map.
Third, there are two kinds of queries supplied: a basic, intuitively easy to
understand option to combine two maps, and a more complex query system
for advanced users. The basic option to combine maps allows for the
selection of two maps from the atlas. The result will be a display of the
compound feature, consisting of all attested combinations of types from the
two maps (with all options of customization as discussed above, in
particular the possibility to create groups of types). The generation of such
compound features is extremely useful for research in the field of linguistic
typology. In this kind of research, the interaction between different, often
apparently independent, characteristics of languages is investigated. One
can think of, for example, the cross-section of a question-word-fronting rule
with a particular word order type, the existence of tone with the size of the
consonant inventory, or the alignment type (accusative, ergative, activeinactive)
with the head-dependent marking type. With the basic and easyto-use
functionality of combining two maps, as supplied in the IRT, even
technically unsophisticated users will be able to investigate such
correlations.
The option of performing more complex queries is also supplied in the
IRT. Even this rather complex part of the program is designed to be used
without prior intense study of a manual. Any combination of any number of
structural characteristics from the available data can be generated with an
easily understandable ‘select and click’ mechanism. Furthermore,
geographical and genealogical information can also be included in such
queries. Complex queries can be saved and used as filters for other queries.
Such research possibilities, as allowed by the IRT, by far surpass
everything else that is currently available for linguistic typology.
3. Technology
The IRT was developed as a standalone application for Macintosh and
Windows platforms, based on the premise of a program that should be easy
to use. After an exhaustive search for a suitable programming language the
choice was made to draw on Macromedia’s Director and Flash, using the
languages Lingo and Actionscript. Both languages are designated to handle
multi-media based data in a fast and efficient way. Furthermore the IRT
uses an in-built SQL server that provides all genealogical, geographical,
linguistic, and bibliographical data. The structure with an in-built server
was chosen for three reasons. First, the need for the installation of any
additional software is avoided. Second, in this way there is fast access to the
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