



=encoding UTF-8

=head1 NAME

Lingua::EN::ABC - American, British, and Canadian English

=head1 SYNOPSIS

    
    use Lingua::EN::ABC ':all';
    my $colour = a2b ('color');
    print "$colour\n";
    
    


produces output

    colour


(This example is included as L<F<synopsis.pl>|https://fastapi.metacpan.org/source/BKB/Lingua-EN-ABC-0.12/examples/synopsis.pl> in the distribution.)


=head1 VERSION

This documents Lingua::EN::ABC version 0.12
corresponding to git commit L<20d6292bafb5dd6d7e04bd1b24ffc119d01ab761|https://github.com/benkasminbullock/Lingua-EN-ABC/commit/20d6292bafb5dd6d7e04bd1b24ffc119d01ab761> released on Tue Nov 16 17:19:21 2021 +0900.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module offers functions to convert between the spellings and
vocabulary of American, British, and Canadian versions of English.

=head1 FUNCTIONS

The naming convention for the functions is "a" for American, "b" for
British, "c" for Canadian, so "a2b" converts "American to British".

=head2 a2b

    my $british = a2b ('color');
    # $british = 'colour'.

Convert American into British spellings.  An option C<oxford> controls
whether to use Oxford spelling (realize rather than realise):

    my $oxford_british = a2b ('realize', oxford => 1);

This does not convert words with different pronunciations or words
which are completely different between American and British uses.

This cannot correctly convert ambiguous spellings like "program",
which may be either "program" or "programme" in British English. See
L</BUGS>. It tries to convert American formations like "gotten" into
"got".

An option C<s>, if true, results in a spelling-only conversion:

    
    use utf8;
    use Lingua::EN::ABC ':all';
    print a2b ('aluminum airplane labor center pajamas'), "\n";
    print a2b ('aluminum airplane labor center pajamas', s => 1), "\n";
    
    


produces output

    aluminium aeroplane labour centre pyjamas
    aluminum airplane labour centre pyjamas


(This example is included as L<F<alairlab.pl>|https://fastapi.metacpan.org/source/BKB/Lingua-EN-ABC-0.12/examples/alairlab.pl> in the distribution.)


In this case, word pairs with differing pronunciations, like "burnt"
and "burned" are not interchanged, and word pairs which are ambiguous,
like "check" and "cheque", are also not interchanged.

=head2 b2a

    my $american = b2a ('the colour of my pyjamas');
    # $american = 'the color of my pajamas'

Convert British spellings into American spellings. This cannot convert
British formations like "got" into "gotten" due to the grammatical
ambiguity ("I've got a car" versus "I've gotten into an accident", or
"I got into an accident").

An option C<s>, if true, results in a spelling-only conversion. See
L</a2b>.

=head2 a2c

    my $canadian = a2c ('the color');
    # $canadian = 'the colour'

Convert American to Canadian spelling. An option C<s>, if true,
results in a spelling-only conversion. See L</a2b>.

=head2 c2a

    my $american = c2a ('the color');
    # $american = 'the colour'

Convert Canadian to American spelling. An option C<s>, if true,
results in a spelling-only conversion. See L</a2b>.

=head2 b2c

    my $canadian = b2c ('the programme');
    # $canadian = 'the program'

Convert British to Canadian spelling. An option C<s>, if true,
results in a spelling-only conversion. See L</a2b>.

=head2 c2b

    my $british = c2b ($canadian);

Convert Canadian to British spelling. An option C<oxford> controls
whether to use Oxford spelling (realize rather than realise):

    my $oxford_british = c2b ($canadian, oxford => 1);

An option C<s>, if true, results in a spelling-only conversion. See
L</a2b>.

=head1 DEPENDENCIES

=over

=item L<Carp>

Carp is used to print errors.

=item L<JSON::Parse>

JSON::Parse is used to read in the file of spelling data.

=item L<Convert::Moji/make_regex>

This is used to make a regular expression which converts the words
from one form to another.

=back

=head1 SEE ALSO

=over

=item L<Lingua::EN::ABC::Data>

This is the underlying data for this module, put into POD format so
that it's easy to search and check.

=item respell

C<respell> is a tool to convert English text from one spelling system
to another. This used to be at http://membled.com/work/apps/respell,
but that web site has now disappeared as of Tue Nov 16 17:19:21 2021 +0900.

=back

=head1 STANDALONE SCRIPT

There is a script called F<econv> in the distribution which runs these
functions on its command line. Please use C<econv --help> for detailed
usage instructions.

=head1 DATA FILE

The data file provided with the distribution isn't intended to be
human-edited. The master file containing the spelling variations is
L<F<abc.txt>|https://github.com/benkasminbullock/Lingua-EN-ABC/blob/master/abc.txt>
in the top directory of the distribution. The comment at the top of
the file contains information about the format. To add to this
module's list of words, edit the file and send a pull request on
github.

=head1 BUGS

=over

=item No handling of ambiguous words like "program".

"Program" is used in British English for computer programs, whereas a
theatre programme uses the -mme spelling.

=item It only converts lower case

For example, L</a2c> will not convert "The Color Purple" or "The World
Trade Center" into "The Colour Purple" or "The World Trade
Centre". This is a feature as well as a bug, since proper names like
movie titles or place names should not be respelt.

=item Word lists are not comprehensive

Please feel free to contribute. See L</DATA FILE> for an easy way to
contribute new items.

=item There are no tests involving the ambiguity data

Up to version 0.05 of the module, the ambiguity data about which words
are ambiguous (vice/vise etc.) was not being put into the JSON data
file, and yet it was passing all its tests, so there cannot be any
tests of this.

=back

=head1 HISTORY

=over

=item 0.09 2018-09-26

Additional word pairs coloured, colouration, mouldy, vapourise,
vapourisation.

Ambiguous spellings (check/cheque, meter/metre) no longer converted
when using the C<s> option.

Some pairs incorrectly marked as spelling-only (towards, mum)
restored.

=item 0.10

Plurals ending in s were added.

=back

=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

L<A list of words by Wikipedia user Ohconfucius|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ohconfucius/U.S._Spelling_versus_British_and_Canadian_Spellings>
was used in the preparation of the data. Nigel Horne (NJH) and Ed Avis
(EDAVIS) contributed some word additions and other suggestions.



=head1 AUTHOR

Ben Bullock, <bkb@cpan.org>

=head1 COPYRIGHT & LICENCE

This package and associated files are copyright (C) 
2013-2021
Ben Bullock.

You can use, copy, modify and redistribute this package and associated
files under the Perl Artistic Licence or the GNU General Public
Licence.



