Databases and Information Systems Commons^™

Data Base Design For Research In Comparative Zapotec, Anita C. Bickford

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the nature and content of a comparative data base for the Zapotec languages of Mexico that may be produced. Many questions are discussed: how to sub-divide and list the Zapotec languages and dialects; what data format will be most accessible to researchers as well as to field workers with data to add; computer software considerations (designing computational tools); how to handle non-cognates with shared meanings, non-overlap of glosses (i.e., one Zapotec gloss covers several Spanish words, or vice versa), semantic shifts and secondary meanings, and other problems such as special characters, free variation, elisions, etc.; whether to …