gduncan@uvicctr.UUCP (Gary Duncan) (02/04/86)
Before I put a lot of work into it, has anyone out there created a
comprehensive Canadian English spelling list?
This is for BSD4.2 on a VAX, but I'm sure it applies everywhere.
I have created an initial 'canadian' variation list by simply going
through the 'american' and 'british' variation lists in
/usr/src/usr.bin/spell/ and taking the preferred spelling as given by
the "Compact Dictionary of Canadian English", Holt, Rinehart and
Winston (1976).
In many cases both the American and British spellings are recognized,
although one is usually preferred over the other. My dictionary
distinguishes between the common and uncommon variations. (eg. 'labor'
is a common variation of 'labour', while 'barytone' is an uncommon
variation on 'baritone'). My current plan is just to have the
preferred spellings, although some may wish to have the common
variation as well. In may cases the variation is already in the
standard list (/usr/dict/words). To counteract this either this list
needs to be redone, or another stop list created. Perhaps we need both
preferred and recognized Canadian versions?
FYI: my simple Canadian variation list is about 36% American and 64%
British, preferring the British ...ll..., ...our, ...re, ...yse, and
...nce over the American ...l..., ...or, ...er, ...yze, and ...nse (eg.
travelled, colour, centre, analyse, and defence), but the American
...ize and ...gram over the British ..ise and ...gramme (eg. recognize
and program). There are of course exceptions to the above rules (eg.
paralleled, amorous, license).
-- Gary Duncan, Dept of CS, U of Victoria
uucp: {ubc-vision,uw-beaver}!uvicctr!vax-populi!gduncan
EAN: gduncan@vax-populi.UVic.CDN
~arpa: vax-populi!gduncan@nrl-css.arpa