loquax

A Classical Phonology framework

Loquax, (Latin for "chatty"), is an extensible, zero-dependency, FP-style Python library for phonological analysis.

The loquax web client.

Features

• Syllabification/tokenization
• Phoneme analysis
• Morphological transformations
• IPA transliteration
• Scansion
• Extensibility

Languages

Language/Dialect	IPA	Syllabification	Scansion
Latin/Classical	✓	✓	✓
Greek/Classical	X	X	X

Quickstart

pip install loquax

from loquax import Document
from loquax.languages import Latin

catilinarian_orations = Document("Quoūsque tandem abutēre, Catilīna, patientiā nostrā?", Latin)
print(catilinarian_orations.to_string(ipa=True, scansion=True))

# outputs:
# kʷɔ.uːs.kʷɛ    tan.dɛm    a.bʊ.teː.rɛ    ka.tɪ.liː.na    pa.tɪ.ɛn.tɪ.aː    nɔs.traː
#  u   -   u      -   u     u u   -  u     u  u   -  u     u  u  u  u  -      u   -

Syllabification, Tokenization

print(catilinarian_orations.tokens)

# outputs:
# [kʷɔ.uːs.kʷɛ, tan.dɛm, a.bʊ.teː.rɛ, ka.tɪ.liː.na, pa.tɪ.ɛn.tɪ.aː, nɔs.traː]

print(catilinarian_orations.tokens[0].syllables)

# outputs:
# [quo, ūs, que]

Phoneme Analysis

Understand unique sounds and their roles within words relative to a Language

from loquax.abstractions import Phoneme
from loquax.languages import Latin

r = Phoneme('r', Latin)
print(r.is_consonant and r.is_liquid)  # outputs: True

Morphology

The central problem of phonology is that linguistic units have changing features depending on their context and neighbours.

Loquax allows users to tackle this by defining their own morphisms.

from loquax.morphisms import Morphism, Rule, RuleSequence
from loquax.syllables import Syllable
from dataclasses import replace

long_position_morphism = Morphism[Syllable](
    target=Rule[Syllable](check_fn=lambda s: s.nucleus and s.coda and len(s.coda) >= 1),
    transformation=lambda s: replace(s, is_long=True),
    suffix=RuleSequence(
        [Rule[Syllable](check_fn=lambda s: s.coda and len(s.onset) >= 1)]
    ),
)

MorphismStore lets you organize your morphisms and to apply all transformations in your MorphismStore to a given syllable or phoneme sequence:

from loquax.abstractions import MorphismStore

morphism_store = MorphismStore([morphism1, morphism2, morphism3])
syllables_sequence = [syllable1, syllable2, syllable3]
transformed_sequence = morphism_store.apply_all(syllables_sequence)

Ipa

To convert text into the International Phonetic Alphabet for universal comprehension, you can use the to_string function with ipa=True:

print(catilinarian_orations.to_string(ipa=True))

# outputs:
# kʷɔ.uːs.kʷɛ    tan.dɛm    a.bʊ.teː.rɛ    ka.tɪ.liː.na    pa.tɪ.ɛn.tɪ.aː    nɔs.traː

Scansion

Scansion is the process of marking the stresses in a poem, and dividing the lines into feet. It's a critical part of the study and enjoyment of classical verse, like in Latin and Ancient Greek poetry. Loquax makes it easy to integrate scansion into your language analysis pipeline.

Currently only differentiation between long and short syllables is made

print(catilinarian_orations.to_string(scansion=True))

# outputs:
# quo.ūs.que    tan.dem    a.bu.tē.re    ca.ti.lī.na    pa.ti.en.ti.ā    nos.trā
#  u  -   u      -   u     u u  -  u     u  u  -  u     u  u  u  u  -     u   -

Extensibility

Loquax allows for extensibility, so you can build and customize your own language rules for unique or theoretical languages. Here's an example of how to define custom rules and apply them:

from loquax.languages import Latin
from loquax.abstractions import (
    PhonemeSyllabificationRuleStore, Language, 
    Constants, Tokenizer, MorphismStore, 
    Syllable, Morphism, Phoneme
)

syllabification_rules = PhonemeSyllabificationRuleStore(...)
constants = Constants(...)
tokenizer = Tokenizer(...)
syllable_morphisms = MorphismStore[Syllable]([...])
phoneme_morphisms = MorphismStore[Phoneme]([...])

my_lang = Language(
    language_name='MyLang',
    iso_639_code='myl', 
    constants,
    syllabification_rules,
    syllable_morphisms,
    phoneme_morphisms,
    tokenizer,
)