Timothy Hill wrote:
> I'm currently working on some Latin-related webpages which I intend to mark up first in semantic
> XML, and then transform into XHTML for web display.
>
> Does anyone know of an existing XML language developed to describe Latin (or Greek) texts in
> grammatical terms? I think for this particular project very fine-grained markup (something like
> <noun case='ablative' type='locative'> vel sim) would be appropriate - and I'd be very happy to find
> a pre-existing vocabulary, rather than write mine from scratch.
Hi Timothy,
I think the problem with your query is that you specify XML markup languages
developed specifically for Latin or Greek texts. Why should linguistic markup
be different in Latin and Greek than any of the other similar (or indeed, more
complex) languages? In fact, I'd argue that what you should be looking for is a
markup language that is applicable across numerous human languages, and that
this generality might be a good thing.
There are many linguistic corpora, in all sorts of languages (ancient and
modern) which use the Guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative as their base
for XML markup, such as the BNC. Moreover, there are existing programs to help
search and analyse corpora with similar markup.
The fine degree of granularity you wish (which seems to be pos,case,type?) can
certainly be expressed in TEI XML. Although much of the information you'd want
is spread throughout the Guidelines' 23 chapters[1], you may find the chapters
on Language Corpora[2] and Simple Analytic Mechanisms[3] useful. In the latter
case you might find its section on Linguistic Annotation[4] interesting.
It seems beneficial to use established standards where applicable rather than
reinvent the wheel. I'd be happy to discuss this further with you and give what
advice I can if you desire. (As you are working in UK HE, we are part-funded by
the AHDS, until it dies at the end of March, to provide best-effort advice to
those under taking digital research projects in UK HE, advise on funding
applications, etc.)
Best wishes,
-James
[1] http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/index-toc.html
[2] http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/CC.html
[3] http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/AI.html
[4] http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/AI.html#AILA
--
Dr James Cummings, Oxford Text Archive, University of Oxford
James dot Cummings at oucs dot ox dot ac dot uk
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