The Linguist's Shoebox

Integrated data management and analysis for the field linguist

MDF data field markers in exported order

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

MDF exports data fields in a consistent order. On the one hand, this is a restriction imposed by MDF's dictionary-formatting process, but on the other hand, it is an advantage to the researcher because minor inconsistencies in field order will not affect the consistency of the printed dictionary. The main disadvantage is that you might not like MDF's order (to change the order, you have to modify the formatting rules contained in a Consistent Changes table file—possible, but not a trivial task).

Marker: The levels of indenting represent the structure of a lexical database record in MDF's "standard" hierarchy. The markers that define the main structure are in bold font style.

Field name: The fields that are exported with an individual character style are in bold font style. The other fields are exported with the general-purpose style for their language (exceptions: \lf and \pdl get the style for labels, all note fields use the \nt style).

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