LONGMAN2BNC(1l) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES LONGMAN2BNC(1l) NAME longman2bnc - update bnc database with information derived from Longman spoken text headers SYNOPSIS longman2bnc -c|-d|-r [-invy] [-D database] file... DESCRIPTION longman2bnc updates the BNC database by taking information from the headers of Longman spoken text files, or from con- solidated master header files, and updating records in, or appending records to, the following tables: bncPartic Information about participants in the spoken corpus. (Under -c, -r options only.) bncParticJoin Links between participants and the texts in which they appear. (Under -c, -r options only.) bncParticNote Notes pertaining to individual participants. (Under -c, -r options only.) bncRegClas Regional classifications for texts. (Under -c, -d options only.) bncRelation Relationships between participants. (Under -c, -r options only.) bncRespondent Additional information about demographic spoken corpus respondents. (Under -r option only.) bncSelClas Selection and classification criteria for texts. (Under -c, -d options only.) bncSpoken Information about individual spoken texts. (Under -c, -d options only.) bncTextNote Notes pertaining to particular texts. (Under -c, -d options only.) bncWork Name and other details of monographic text. (Under -c, -d options only.) Whenever it appears that there is already data in a target table corresponding to information provided by Longman, but having a different value, the user is prompted for a deci- sion as to whether the new data should replace existing data. Sun Release 4.Last change: TGCW62: 10 February, 1994 1 LONGMAN2BNC(1l) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES LONGMAN2BNC(1l) After all data pertaining to a text or respondent has been processed, and if database changes have resulted, the user is prompted as to whether the changes should be accepted. Questions demanding a yes/no answer may be suppressed through use of the -n and -y options. (See below.) When- ever, the user is prompted for such an answer, entering ``!'' will have the effect of answerng this and all subse- quent questions affirmatively; answering ``q'' will provide a negative answer to the current question, then terminate the program. The -y option and ``!'' response are dangerous, and their use is not recommended. OPTIONS -c Process context-governed texts. These are assumed to contain usable information both about the text and the particpants in the interaction it records. -d Process demographic texts. These are assumed to con- tain usable information only about the text: informa- tion about participants is ignored. -Ddatabase Use database instead of the default databse, bnc. -i Ignore files which appear already to have been pro- cessed. Previous processing is indicated by the pres- ence of a bncSpoken record corresponding to a corpus text under the -c and -d options; or of a bncRespondent record corresponding to a demographic master header file under the -r option. -n Provide a negative answer to all yes/no questions. This allows the effect of a run to be judged without updating the database. (See BUGS below, however.) -r Process master header files. These are assumed to con- tain usable information about particpants appearing in a number of demographic texts. -v Echo the BNC code and disposition of each text pro- cessed as it is processed, even if no changes to the database result. -y Provide an affirmative answer to all yes/no questions. Use with the utmost caution. DIAGNOSTICS Invalid command lines elicit a usage message. Unreadable files produce warnings. Sun Release 4.Last change: TGCW62: 10 February, 1994 2 LONGMAN2BNC(1l) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES LONGMAN2BNC(1l) Bad data in Longman headers elicits complaints, some, I regret to say, rather crypic. In particular, messages such as longman2bnc: Unmappable tag in M_Paul2 -- swe say that the value, swe, given for the LANn Longman header tag (first language of participant n) is not known to the database. In order to make it known, an entry must be added to the bncMap table. (Not documented here. Sorry.) An invalid argument for -D and -q will elicit an Ingres error message. Failure of any SQL statement results in the printing of an Ingres error message, and an immediate error exit. ENVIRONMENT II_SYSTEM Location of Ingres files. Defaults to /usr/local. FILES ~natcorp/bin/longman2bnc The program itself. The man page is embedded: hand the program to nroff -man. ~/perl, ~natcorp/perl Directories searched, in that order, after the ``stan- dard places'' are searched, for required perl library files. AUTHOR Dominic Dunlop SEE ALSO perl(1l); Ingres documentation; TGCW36 - The new BNC data- base; TGCW56 - Guide to Longman-Lancaster header codes BUGS The -n option is very inefficient in operation: it has the effect of performing each update on the database, then rol- ling it back. This at least has the advantage that any difficulties concerned with updating the database will be flagged. The program could really do with having a logging facility. As it is, if you want a log, you must record the session in which you run it with script, cmdtool, or some similar util- ity. Sun Release 4.Last change: TGCW62: 10 February, 1994 3 LONGMAN2BNC(1l) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES LONGMAN2BNC(1l) The program bristles with the hacks needed to accomodate the inconsistent nature of Longman data. Even so, it generally needs tweaking to understand new peculiarities each time it encounters a new batch of texts. Sun Release 4.Last change: TGCW62: 10 February, 1994 4