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From: me on 17 Mar 2010 20:08
I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out code for
parsing and counting syllables in simple English
sentences.

Can someone throw the dog a bone on where to start?
From: Helge Kruse on 18 Mar 2010 02:16
Am 18.03.2010 01:08, schrieb me(a)privacy.net:
> I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out code for
> parsing and counting syllables in simple English
> sentences.
>
> Can someone throw the dog a bone on where to start?

TeX has a good working hyphenation algorithm. It's described in one of
Knuth's book. Maybe that's a starting point.

Helge

From: Francis Glassborow on 18 Mar 2010 04:14
me(a)privacy.net wrote:
> I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out code for
> parsing and counting syllables in simple English
> sentences.
>
> Can someone throw the dog a bone on where to start?

well start be defining a syllable. A major problem is that English
pronunciation is very variable with the result that there are
intermediate cases where a word is a syllable and a half :) In addition
we have the problem that the surrounding letters can influence the
decision in a sometimes arbitrary way

I think your problem has nothing to do with computing but a great deal
to do with the vagaries of human speech.
From: Francis Glassborow on 18 Mar 2010 04:16
Helge Kruse wrote:
> Am 18.03.2010 01:08, schrieb me(a)privacy.net:
>> I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out code for
>> parsing and counting syllables in simple English
>> sentences.
>>
>> Can someone throw the dog a bone on where to start?
>
> TeX has a good working hyphenation algorithm. It's described in one of
> Knuth's book. Maybe that's a starting point.
>
yes but I would hate to see a hyphen in able (and doubt that TeX would
place one in such a short word)
From: Jerry Coffin on 20 Mar 2010 03:30
In article <aOOdndsEGsRkfTzWnZ2dnUVZ8oSdnZ2d(a)bt.com>,
francis.glassborow(a)btinternet.com says...

[ ... ]

> well start be defining a syllable. A major problem is that English
> pronunciation is very variable with the result that there are
> intermediate cases where a word is a syllable and a half :) In addition
> we have the problem that the surrounding letters can influence the
> decision in a sometimes arbitrary way
>
> I think your problem has nothing to do with computing but a great deal
> to do with the vagaries of human speech.

Even context outside the word itself can influence the number of
syllables. For example: "I will resume working on it, so I should be
able to send you my resume tomorrow."

Most people would produce the first instance of "resume" with two
syllables, and the second with three, even though they're spelled
identically. Admittedly, the latter _should_ really have an accent
over the 'e', but it's certainly common to see it without.

--
Later,
Jerry.
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