The Linguist's Shoebox

Integrated data management and analysis for the field linguist

MDF data field markers in alphabetical order

The Multi-Dictionary Formatter (MDF) defines about 100 data fields. The following table lists them in alphabetical order, with some of their properties. It supersedes the information in Appendix A of Making Dictionaries. (Note: There is also a table of markers in the order that they are exported by MDF.)

Check: You can set up Shoebox to check the consistency of some lexical data fields, indicated as follows:

• RS — fields that should have range sets (which define closed sets of values that are valid)
• rs — fields that could have range sets, depending on how you use them
• DL — fields that should have data links to ensure that cross-referenced lexemes actually exist

Format: An example of each field in a dictionary. Labels for an English audience are shown. For most fields, the contents are represented by xyz. For example, a Cross-reference field \cf xyz appears as See: xyz etc. MDF adds the label See:, uses bold font style for the vernacular language data, and adds a period (unless the field already ends with sentence-final punctuation). The etc shows where other related fields (e.g., glosses) are inserted, if they occur in the data. Your choice of audience, format, and options determines which fields are exported. Certain fields are included conditionally: \lc supersedes \lx and definitions supersede glosses. By default, MDF excludes the fields with a * to the left of the formatted sample.

Info: The place in Making Dictionaries where you can find comprehensive information about a field (or a group of related fields). See §2.1 for brief descriptions of all the fields.

Updates to Making Dictionaries