Pheatures Spreadsheet

A computer program written for use in Linguistics 120A, "Phonology I", in the Department of Linguistics at UCLA.


This is a program that lets you learn features through active practice. It never tells you the answer to a question, but it checks your answer for accuracy, and it often points out problems with your answer that need to be fixed.

You may freely download and use this software.  However, it is copyrighted by the Regents of the University of California and may not be used for any commercial purpose.

The program should run on any modern computer (PC, Mac, Linux).


Here is what to do:

1. Download the program in this zipped bundle of files.  Use ordinary unzipping software (easy to find with Google) to unzip it.  Look inside the folder you just unzipped.  The crucial file is "Pheatures.jar".  Put this file in any folder convenient to you and click on it to run.  If your computer has Java (most do), this should work.  If you don't have Java, follow the directions in the manual, given below.

    Here is help for installing the program on a Mac.

2. You need some phoneme inventories to work with.  Sitting inside the download bundle is a zipped bundle of phoneme inventories. Download it, put it in the same folder as the program, and then unzip it.  (Note: the program also lets you make new phoneme inventories.)

3. Advice on how to run the program:  read the manual, below.


Manual

The program is fairly simple and can probably be learned by just clicking around in exploratory fashion.  But you are more likely to get optimum use out of it (particularly in diagnosis when things go wrong!) if you will read the

Manual (download here)

There is also an advanced specialized manual to use if you want to change the features.  Download it here.


Credits

Pheatures Spreadsheet was programmed by Floris van Vugt with advice from Bruce Hayes and Kie Zuraw.  It was  funded by a grant from UCLA's Office of Instructional Development to Bruce Hayes.

Pheatures Spreadsheet is the successor program to FeaturePad.  Improvements include multiplatform support, spreadsheet-style display, keyboard input, and many other capacities.

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Last updated October 17, 2012