Introduction to MultiTree
The trees in MultiTree are intended to be faithful representations of the source. It can be difficult to capture a scholar's intentions in a graphical representation, but degrees of certainty and comments help to convey the subtleties, and of course it is recommended that the original source be consulted for an in-depth understanding of the scholar's analysis.
Disclaimer
The presence of a tree does not constitute an endorsement of that tree. MultiTree simply aims to collect as many hypotheses about language relationships as possible so that users can compare them, and in many cases, see the progression of ideas from early hypotheses to newer ones.
Understanding the Trees
The trees are made up of nodes. A node may be a Subgroup, Language, Dialect or Dialect Group, or a Stock, and in some cases, both a Subgroup and a Language. Each type of node has a different color. A node's name is the name used by the scholar, and so the same entity may have different names from hypothesis to hypothesis, but it will have the same code in all of them. Language codes are ISO 639.3 codes, and Subgroup codes are 4-letter codes created for MultiTree. Dialect codes are the parent language's code plus three more letters, separated by a dash. These were also created for MultiTree.
Technical specs
Minimum screen size: 1024x768
Java (used in Star Tree):
Viewing trees requires at least version 1.5.0 of Java. Click here to download the latest version of Java.
To make sure Java and JavaScript are enabled in your browser, go to Tools > Options > Content and check the boxes next to 'Enable JavaScrip'
and 'Enable Java'.
Turning off Pop-up Blocker
The Star Tree viewer opens in a pop-up window. Click here for browser-specific instructions on allowing pop-ups.
Supported Browsers:
PCs:- Internet Explorer 6
- Firefox 1.5
- Opera 7
- Opera 9
- Firefox 1.5
- Opera 7.4
- Netscape 7
- Safari 1.4
Searching
Search using just one of these fields, or narrow the results using several of them.
Field: Family/Subgroup/Language/Dialect
Search by name
Enter a language, subgroup or family name, or part of a name here. Use the IPA popup for special characters by typing in a character closest to the desired character, then right clicking and selecting the desired character from the popup.
Search by code
Since scholars may use different names for the same subgroup or language, the Code search may yield more complete results. You can look up language codes here.
Field: Scholar
Search by a scholar's name, or a part of it.
Field: Date of Publication
Search by year, in the format YYYY. This can be useful for finding hypotheses from a certain time period.
Field: Publication Type
Possible values are: B (book), J (journal article/journal), C (conference paper), W (webpage/web site), P (project), E (personal communication: email, letter), H (chapter of a book). Use H where the source is just one chapter, and B where the source is an entire book by one person.
Field: Language of Publication
Search for sources written in a certain language using ISO language codes. You can look up a language code
here.
Some common language codes: English (eng), French (fra), German (deu)
Field: Title of Publication
If you are looking for a particular source, you can search by its title, or part of its title, here.
Browse Language Families by Region
This menu provides a starting place to explore MultiTree. It includes all the language families covered in MultiTree, organized by geographic region. Clicking on a family will give you a list of all the trees relating to the family.
Search Results
The search results page lists all the matches for your search term(s) with their bibliographic references. Clicking on a reference will open a new window displaying that tree.
Some of the results may be from families other than the one you were interested in (for instance, if you searched for a language name that occurs in other language families). However, each tree's title includes its family name, so that should help.
Tree Display page
The tree is displayed in a separate window using a program called Star Tree, which is a hyperbolic viewer.
Thus the entire tree fits in the window, but the parts at the edges of the window are smaller. Your search term will be centered in the viewer.
If you have trouble seeing the tree (nothing appears), you may need to update to a newer version of Java.
Star Tree
There are two ways of navigating through the tree.
- The explorer view on the left. This interface is linked to the Star Tree viewer, so as you open Subgroup folders and click on languages, the tree will focus on those nodes.
- The Star Tree viewer. Navigate by clicking and dragging areas you want to look at to the center of the viewer. You can also close and open subgroups by clicking on the little +/- in the lower right corner of each node. The full name of a node may not be visible unless you put your mouse over it or it is in the center, because the nodes shrink for better visibility of the whole tree.
Searching Inside the Tree
To find a certain language or subgroup in the tree being viewed, enter its name or code in the appropriate field.
Comments
Comments on a node, if any exist, are displayed on the left. A comment may contain a note from the scholar, or information on the language. The comment is displayed when you click on a node, in the section called 'Current Node'.
Language Information
When you click on a node which represents a language or dialect, a link will appear in the 'Current Node' box. This link will take you to the language's information page on LINGUIST, which lists alternate names and dialects, as well as where the language is spoken and what subgroup it belongs to. Dialects will be linked to their respective parent language's page.
Coming soon:
- Star Tree controls that will allow the user to change the tree's orientation, font size, and how spread out it is.
- A search which allows viewing and comparing of 2 trees simultaneously.
- A scholar login to enable scholars to edit their trees.
- A comment facility to discuss hypotheses.