Hactar's Morphology Format v0.1

morpho_format_v0.1.hjson

# Hactar's morphology format proposal v0.1

{

    # Categories are stored in an unordered object.
    perspective: {
        links: {
            # Links to official and unofficial documentation/guides/etc.
            agoi:           http://ithkuil.net/03_morphology.html#Sec3o3
            nildb:          https://hactarce.github.com/HactarCE/NILDB/morphology.html#perspective
            wikiversity:    https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Ithkuil/The_Ca_Affix#Perspective
        }
        values: [
            # Category values are stored in an ordered array. The comment at the
            # top of each entry makes for easier navigation when using code
            # folding.
            {   # MONADIC
                # The category name is human-friendly.
                name:       Monadic
                # The category gloss is case-sensitive (because some categories
                # are not entirely uppercased; PRA referents, for example) and
                # must be unique to this category and value. It should only
                # contain alphanumeric characters and underscores, and shouldn't
                # begin with a number (i.e. it should be a valid identifier in
                # most prorgamming languages).
                gloss:      M
                # The summary is a simple word or phrase, beginning with a
                # capital letter but not ending with punctuation.
                summary:    One element
                # The description may be a sentence or paragraph or two of
                # ASCII-only markdown (notice the lack of smart quotes) wrapped
                # to 80 characters (including indentation). This example is
                # copied from ithkuil.net, but obviously the real deal should be
                # from a more opensource publication. It also should not be
                # truncated.
                description:
                    '''
                    The MONADIC signifies a bounded embodiment of a particular
                    configuration. By "bounded embodiment" is meant a contextual
                    entity which, though possibly numerous in membership or ...
                    '''
                description_source: agoi
                # If it's not possible to link directly to a page/section for
                # the specific value, then do not include a link here; any
                # program should use the link for the category instead.
                links:          {
                    nildb:          https://hactarce.github.com/HactarCE/NILDB/morphology.html#monadic
                }
            }
            {   # POLYADIC
                name:       Polyadic
                gloss:      P
                summary:    Multiple elements
                # Unbounded != Polyadic, but it's close enough for this example.
                description:
                    '''
                    The UNBOUNDED signifies "unbounded embodiment" of a
                    particular configurative entity, meaning that the noun or
                    verb manifests itself as not being contained within an
                    uninterrupted boundary, i.e., in contextually "disconnected"
                    manifestations.
                    '''
                description_source: agoi
                links:          {
                    nildb:          https://hactarce.github.com/HactarCE/NILDB/morphology.html#polyadic
                }
            }
            ...
            ...
        ]
    }

    ...: ...

    # Metadata about this file.
    _meta: {
        # Metadata about each documentation source for pretty display and proper
        # crediting. The only required property for each one is 'name';
        # everything else is optional.
        links: {
            agoi:    {
                name:           A Grammar of Ithkuil
                short_name:     AGoI
                author:         John Quijada
                link:           http://ithkuil.net/
            }
            nildb: {
                name:           New Ithkuilic Language Database
                short_name:     NILDB
                author:         HactarCE
                license:        MIT
                link:           https://hactarce.github.com/NILDB/
                author_link:    https://hactarce.github.com/
                license_link:   https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
            }
            wikiversity: {
                name:           Wikiversity
                link:           https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Ithkuil
                license:        CC BY-SA 3.0
                license_link:   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
            }
        }
    }

}

# Possible changes:
# - less metadata for each link
# - more metadata
# - use two spaces for indentation instead of four (not tabs, because spaces are
#   better for aligning things)
# - multiple long descriptions? (one from each source?)
# - no long description?