Converting a Toolbox lexical database to LKB format
The LKB system (Linguistic Knowledge Builder) is a grammar and lexicon development environment for use with unification-based linguistic formalisms. LKB is focused on the use of HPSG. Data conversion scripts were developed by Hannes Hirzel to convert a Toolbox lexical database into the lexicon format needed by LKB.
A presentation in Trondheim, 2005 (File:Toolbox-LKB-Link-slides - version 4.pdf) shows how this was applied to a lexicon file of the Ga language edited by Mary E. Kropp Dakubu.
The scripting language used is called 'Consistent changes' and built into the Toolbox program. You run the program from within Toolbox on the lexicon file by choosing the 'File', then 'Export' and 'TBox-LKB-Step1'. This starts processing of all steps. The result is a lexicon file in LKB format.
A working portable setup is available from the author on request.
Implementation
The files which belong to a Toolbox project may be kept all in the same folder. The following screen shot shows the setup for the Toolbox to LKB conversion. Marked green are the six 'consistent changes' script files. They include a conversion from an 8 bit font to Unicode for the particular setup used for the Ga language as of 2005. As of 2012 most lexicons use a Unicode font so these steps might be left out or adapted. The LKB lexicon is the result of the sixth step marked in red.
Each of the steps of the 'consistent changes' process chain must be defined. The screen shot shows the dialog to fill in for the definition. It is
- input file
- 'consistent changes' script
- output file
This work, the presentation and this wiki page, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. The script code is under the MIT license.