SIMPLE (ENGLISH) WIKIPEDIA Wordlist for Spell Checking

    Draft -- this note is in transition between a prior Wiki readme for developers and a simplified, version with only one main file for use by Wiki writers. This Wiki note will look similar to the ones for Basic English and for Simple English. The procedures are the same, only the word list vocabularies are different -- VOA Special English is added to make WIKI version. A couple of file names will change, but is otherwise the same. If this draft is not clear, then the instructions in thoses file may be helpful.

    Simple Wikipedia English [called WIKI herein] has no firm definition(s) but it is generally regarded as Basic English (so as to be able to say anything) ; Plus the 1000 most frequent English words (not already in Basic, so as to give fluidity) ; Plus VOA Special English (because of if its wide access for beginners). The files need to install Simple WIKI have been provided for download for use in Open Office.org word processing suite (and more) wherein the non-WIKI words are highlighted as if misspelled.
    Also included is a thesaurus feature that will offer a drop down list of suggested wording for translation from full English to Basic English.

    Purpose:
    Provide a spell checking filter for use in writing Simple WIKI English by use with HunSpell(MySpell) software that is most notably used by the free office suite, OpenOffice.org . The vocabulary of Simple WIKI English is composed (recommended) as Basic English at "next step" level plus the most Frequent words in English, plus VOA Special English.

    Files included:
      a. readwiki.html     12B   (this note)
      b. WIKI.dic     --     4760 root words.       50 KB
        Consists of Basic 1500, plus Frequent 1000 (adds 680 words) plus VOA-SE (adds 450 words).
        Does not include proper nouns (capital letter words, 162KB)
      c. WIKI.aff   2KB   An "affix" includes both prefixes and suffixes. This is a feature of the software that adds some efficiency. It is the same as en_US.aff. You need not be concerned with it.
      d. dictionary.lst (this lists dictionaries that are available to Open Office and replaces the dictionary.lst that comes with OOo and allows separate languages of Basic, Simple English, and WIKI.
      e. th_en_BE.dat   905KB , drop down list of suggestion for Basic English wording.
      f . th_en_BE.idx   357KB , an index for thesaurus.
      Optional
      g. readwiki.html   17KB , this note.
      h. readwikimore.html   15KB , for language developers, might be included
      i. capital.dic 169KB , optional word list

    TO INSTALL
    1 . Download the Simple WIKI English spell checking dictionary from the Basic English Institute download page.
      a . Download : WIKI.zip
          Unzip it to some temporary file. It will contain these files :
        WIKI.dic
        WIKI.aff
        dictionary.lst
        th_en_BE.dat
        th_en_BE.idx
      Plus this note, plus, maybe, another note with more detailed information for developers and an optional Capitalized word list.

      b . Copy the five files to the OOo dictionary file.
        It may be on path : C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 2.4\share\dict\ooo\
        If not, on your system, then search for "en_US.dic" and add the five files to that same directory folder.
            Note : "dictionary.lst" will already exist -- if asked to replace the old file, answer "Yes".

    2 . Add WIKI language to OpenOffice.
    Start OpenOffice.org writer.
    a . On the taskbar at the top of the page,
      select Tools
      then Options, near the bottom
        then Language Setting, near the middle
        then Writing Aids
        In the User-defined Dictionaries box in the middle
          Select   New ...
            Dictionary Name -- enter :   WIKI
            Language -- select from list :   English(Ghana)
            Close this box.
            Look at Options box on the bottom of that page and be sure that these are NOT marked.
                [  ] "Check in all languages"
                [  ] "Do not mark errors".
                Click OK
    b . Again, on the taskbar a the top of the page
      select Tools
      then Options at the very bottom of the list
        then Language Setting
          then Languages
          Under "Default languages for documents" | Western  
            select :   English(Ghana)
            click "OK"
    That is all that is needed
    Exit OpenOffice.org
    Exit OOo QuickStart icon, if it is there.

    To USE:

    Restart OpenOffice.org and try it.
        Any new writing in OOo will be spell checked for Simple WIKI English. Type a few words.
    Note that you can change languages for different documents. You can even change the spell checking language for this document, or for a paragraph within this document. For example, you might spell check in full English to be sure of your spellings, then switch to WIKI English to see if there any words that are not in the WIKI vocabulary.
        Look at :
      Tools , on the tool bar at top
      Language , second line.
      For all Text ...
      More ...
      Select English(Ghana) or whatever language you wish.


    TO UNINSTALL :
    There are no registry entries. Simply delete or don't use any features that are no longer wanted.

    FUN STUFF
    Using OpenOffice.org Writer,
      Open file (path/)WIKI.dic.
      Add your name, town, street, etc., one word per line.
      Sort alphabetically. Change the line count in the first line to the new number.
      Save
    Close OpenOffice.org   - also close QuickStart if it is there.
    Restart OOo.
    Test using your name, town.

    TROUBLE SHOOTING. -- incomplete.
    ReRead the installation instruction.
    Pay attention to spelling.
    Language Tools:
    Options ... etc.
    Language has a check mark.
    Look at dictionary.lst
      C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 2.0\share\dict\ooo\dictionary.lst
    Confirm this line exists:
      DICT en GH WIKI.dic
    English (Ghana) will now be recognized as a language with spell checking capabilities. Configure the OOo text processor to recognize the language "English (Ghana)" as either "Default" or "For the current document only." ... (more) ...
    Exit OOo QuickStart and re-start OOo. OpenOffice QuickStarter must be "off" only once, after changes to recognize new dictionaries or affix files. QuickStarter is no longer useful for OOo 2.4 and higher and may be permanently turned off.
    DISCUSSIONS

    Basic 1500
        Every learner of Basic English is expected to know the 850 words, the international words, six affixes, and complex words, plus one area of General interest with 100 words, such as Science, Business, or Verse. And one Specialty detail within that general topic with an additional 50 words such as Biology, Economics, or Bible -- which are NOT included in WIKI.
    Basic English is a full language for general living and for working as an auxiliary international language. It is good English, just simple. The limited vocabulary allows quick learning -- weeks, not years. Obviously it is an excellent first step in learning full English because it allow almost immediate immersion into daily English-speaking life. Note, Basic English is a subset of Standard English with simple rules of grammar -- there is NO unlearning required to progress to full English. The originators of Basic also provide a learning path beyond basic Basic (adding 150 Next Step words and 350 Subsequent words) at which point the learner should be able to continue at his own pace. Because Simple WIKI English comes after Basic English, the expanded, "next step" Basic is included.
    For Simple WIKI use we have included the general subject words, but NOT the Speciality lists of Basic. We included these, plus the "next step" words for from Basic towards full English. This combined list is sometimes referred to as the Basic 1500.

    The First Supplement of 150 words for common foods, plants, and animals has been lost. If found they will be added, else a good guess will be provided WIKI vocabulary.
        There is much overlap between the three sources. For example, 98 of most frequent 100 words are already in Basic ,
        Half of VOA-SE words are also Basic words. We have attempted to remove duplicates.

    Capitalized Words Please note that all proper nouns (capitalized words) are allowed in Basic English. The capitalized word feature is or is not yet built into this version of WIKI, if not then most capitalized words will show as misspelled. Just disregard them, but you will have to check those spelling yourself.
    The following will be removed to readwikimore.html sometime. Once there it will be edited better than what is here.

        If you are interested in more information, a longer version follows of what you have just done that tells why you have done them and what is going on inside the program.

    Language developers and those needing a different definition of vocabulary for Simple.wikipedia.org.
    A full range of Basic, special word lists, frequency, VOA, and capitalized word files may be provided for a Simple WIKI English Developer. Comment within SimpleWiki is desired and perhaps a standard definition may be developed of the SimpleWiki vocabulary. Until such time as some standards are established, we offer a Simple WIKI English writer spell check and translation of non-Simple words into Basic English (not into the wider WIKI Simple English).

    Capitalized Words     The capitalization dictionary is included in this download, but NOT included in the WIKI word list -- maybe next month. HOWEVER, you can do it yourself -- UNZIP the capitalized word list ; concatenate capital.dic with WIKI.dic ; sort ; change the line count at the top ; save.

    More than you may want to know.

    See page Read Wiki More
    Long Version of Installation with some explanations.
    It may have a path something like this :
      C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 2.0\share\dict\ooo\dictionary.lst
    Add or confirm this line :
      DICT en GH WIKI.dic
    English (Ghana) will now be recognized as a language with spell checking capabilities. Configure the OOo text processor to recognize the language "English (Ghana)" as either "Default" or "For the current document only."

    Dictionary Details:
    Note :   Many people new to simple languages are surprised that a few root words multiply into many times their number of spellings and senses. Learning the Basic 850 results in over 5000 simple derivatives and compound words.
    Example : "equal" becomes equaled, equaler, equaling, equally, equals, unequal, unequaled, unequally.
    Common words making complex words are : -able, -full ; any-, out-. over-, short-, side-, some-, under-, up/upper- , work-.
        Complex words have not been added for Frequent and VOA words to this trial dictionary. VOA is silent on rules for derivatives -- we have used Basic English rules.

    Note : Filenames ending in .aff, .dic, and .txt are simple text files that can be read/edited with any simple text editor.
        The number at the top is the word count. This make the program work more efficiently. Therefore when you add your name, town, etc. to the list, you will want to increase the word count.

    Affix file.
        Spell checking software often makes use of "affix" files and an algorithm to add prefix and suffix forms to the root word. You do not need to be concerned about the affix file.     The name WIKI is pre-set in the  dictionary.lst  file as a country dialect of English.
    It is preset as: en GH WIKI You will want to change this to : en GH WIKI en GH indicates language of a document of English with a country dialect of Ghana, will use WIKI as the name of the spellcheck dictionary and affix file. Note English (Belize) is currently used for pure Basic. And English (Jamaica) for Basic 1500. English (Zimbabwe) for Simple English (without VOA SE). Basic will be used by the most skilled Simple Wiki writers.     ;^)

    dictionary.lst file.
        A file suitable for Basic English, Next Step Basic, Simple English and simple WIKI usage is provided to replace the file that came with OOo.
      The additional features of Hyphenation and Thesaurus are pre-set to use full English. Commonwealth users may prefer to change these from US to GB. Note : Spelling in all files is first American with the most useful examples of Great Britain included. Wikipedia writers can use either, but try to be consistent within any one page.

    Notes about OpenOffice.org
        Download OpenOffice.org, it is freeware and a large file (96MB), or order it as a CD from one of their partners. We paid $5.50 for a copy.
        Somebody owns the word "OpenOffice" so the software must be called OpenOffice.org. Wonder what he story there is?
        OOo gives spell-checking word lists the name of dictionary , xxx.dic.
        They give a translation table the name of -- a thesaurus or synonym list.
        An OOo dictionary, .dic, file is a simple text file saved as with OpenOffice Writer as text, but with the name-end of .dic . A "techy type" will want to know that if saved as "text encoded", then LF is required, but not CR. (It saves one carriage return per word, hardly worth it.) Saving as a regular text file will work fine and is easier to work with for additions and changes.
        OpenOffice QuickStarter must be "off", to recognize new or changes to dictionaries or affix files. QuickStarter is no longer useful for OOo 2.4 and higher and may be permanently turned off.
    About this Page: readwiki.html -- Installation instructions for writing aids, spellchecking word list for Simple Wiki using HunSpell (MySpell) software, specifically for use with OpenOffice.org.
    Last updated : May 21, 2008. Separate WIKI in dictionary.lst ; add thesaurus ; adjust readwiki.
      May 8, 2008 . Replace Basic850 with Basic1500.
      May 3, 2008 . Simplify to one main word list and without Capitals.
    Created : January 14, 2005. Plan of aids for Simple English / Wikipedia URL:   http://www.basic-english.org/down/readwiki.html
    LINKS : Simple English Wiki
      Basic English Institute