The Linguist's Shoebox
Integrated data management and analysis for the field linguist
Shoebox is a computer program that helps field linguists and anthropologists integrate various kinds of text data: lexical, cultural, grammatical, etc. It has flexible options for sorting, selecting, and displaying data. It is especially useful for helping researchers build a dictionary as they use it to analyze and interlinearize text. The name Shoebox recalls the use of shoe boxes to hold note cards on which definitions of words were written in the days before researchers could use computers in the field.
General Information
- General overview
- Software product overview (CD-ROM and books)
- Features (new, improved, and fixed in Shoebox 5)
- Understanding the Shoebox transition (this is the last major version of Shoebox)
Before installation
Installing Shoebox
- Macintosh
- Windows 95 and later
- Windows 3.1
- User settings folder (My Shoebox Settings)
Tips
Online References
If Acrobat® Reader is installed on your computer, the web server transfers PDF files one page at a time.
- The Linguist's Shoebox: Tutorial and User's Guide, 320 pp. PDF, 2469 KB
- Self-paced training program (Windows only)
- Keyman update to the Shoebox tutorial (February 2002)
- The Linguist's Shoebox: Application Guide for Anthropology, 31 pp. PDF, 247 KB
- Multi-Dictionary Formatter (MDF)
- Updates to Making Dictionaries, including MDF data field markers in alphabetical and exported order
- Parsing with Shoebox, 8 pp. PDF, 45 KB
Get Shoebox
- The Field Linguist’s Toolbox is built on Shoebox 5 and is upward compatible with Shoebox. It adds Unicode support, automatic keyboard switching with Keyman 5 and 6, and verification of interlinear text. If you are currently using Shoebox, you can upgrade to Toolbox without any change to your data or settings files.
- The Linguist's Shoebox 5.0 for Mac is available to be downloaded.