GATE Unicode Kit (GUK)

Characters can be entered by using a different keyboard mapping. This method is implemented using the GATE Unicode Kit developed at Sheffield University, Department of Computer Science.

If you select a character set that is based on GUK, a visual representation of a keyboard appears on the screen, which informs you about the implemented keyboard mapping. The following illustrations show the mappings of “ipa-96 (SAMPA)” and “Arabic (WINDOWS)”:

Figure 2.87. ipa-96 keyboard map

Figure 2.88. Arabic keyboard map

To enter a character, do one the following:

The visual representation has the layout of the standard UK keyboard. If you do not have a UK keyboard, there may be mismatches between the characters and their visual representation.

For example, the IPA character “ə;” is matched to the key “@”, i.e., in order to get “ə”, you have to type “@”. On a standard UK keyboard, the key “@” is located to the left of the key “enter” (see the illustration above). On other keyboards, however, “@” may be located on a different key. In such cases, if you press the key to the left of “enter”, you will not get the character “ə”. To get “ə”, you have to search for the location of “@” on your keyboard, and then press that key. (Note that these mismatches only arise if you use the physical keyboard, but not if you use the visual representation on the screen.)

The character set “ipa-96 (SAMPA)” can be used to enter IPA characters. However, the current version of ELAN only supports SAMPA, but not X-SAMPA. As a consequence, some of the characters that you require may not be available yet (see http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa for further information).

Roman Typographic Root (RTR)

IPA characters can be entered using the RTR input method. This method is based on the following principle: whenever you type a character, all typographically similar characters are displayed in a lookup list, as shown in the following illustration:

Figure 2.89. Roman typographic root

To select a character from the lookup list, do the following:

	Note
	Do not use the mouse within the lookup window. If you do, the window will disappear. The input of IPA characters is restricted to the official IPA-96 character set. Withdrawn or superseded characters are not supported.

The RTR-mapping is generally obvious, but please pay attention to the following features:

Chinese characters

Chinese characters, both traditional and simplified, are entered using the Pinyin method. Characters are selected by starting to type Roman characters. Candidates are shown in a lookup window while the user types along. The desired character is selected with the UP and DOWN arrow keys, e.g.:

Figure 2.92. Chinese characters

Use the following procedure:

	Note
	Do not use the mouse within the lookup window. If you do, the window will disappear. On Windows 98, you cannot display both Chinese and IPA characters.

Keyboard tools

If the options above don’t fulfil your needs (e.g. the character set is not supported or you don’t want to use the on-screen display for a large amount of annotations) you might want to look for a third-party solution. Such a tool provides a mean to remap your keyboard to the desired input character set. For details, we refer to the following programs:

Keyman (Windows), http://www.tavultesoft.com/

Figure 2.93. Keyman

Ukelele (Mac), http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele

Figure 2.94. Ukelele