Logging on with some generative doggerel

[rmrenner]

My NaPoGenMo entry uses the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary to pick 2 syllable words according to their stressed vowels & stress pattern and then it slots them into a template grown from an L-System.

I was thinking that by creating irregular but self-similar patterns of stress and vowel sounds, rather than rhyme, I might get something like Gertrude Stein's "If I Told Him":

If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him.
Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it.

In retrospect, choosing a few pre-existing phrases and then sub-stringing them would probably work better for replicating that style. Since I'm strictly using (mostly trochaic) two syllable words, what I have instead is something that makes chants and tongue-twisters:

Dittmer Clifton Upson Ticker Finished

Hipsters burger skillman kurland yeargin,
dearmon glistened murtha winney merkin,
gibbon hurry herbel gerber lichtman,
merchant's mizell scheurer lipschutz durban.

Furtive burkman dearly hermance printers,
gergen syrup(1) burbles herwitz flurries,
prison's wursthaus sneary curtsy whidby,
gerbig hertzler(1) learner whistling(1) fernberg.

Verdes girsky tilney ernests frickey,
kirby bertholf ruggles citric murrelet,
cristal kirkey turbos turner philip(1),
bermans hitting kerbel fissell kirkner.

Girdle virkler(1) ridden stermer pillows,
erma wickey burness skirted sturgeons,
fish's purdie gilchrist bergfeld cissna,
burchell ferger version rigby perlow.

[enkiv2]

Is (1) a sense indicator?

…

On Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 5:49 PM rmrenner ***@***.***> wrote: My NaPoGenMo entry uses the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary <http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict> to pick 2 syllable words according to their stressed vowels & stress pattern and then it slots them into a template grown from an L-System. I was thinking that by creating irregular but self-similar patterns of stress and vowel sounds, rather than rhyme, I might get something like Gertrude Stein's "If I Told Him": If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him. Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it. In retrospect, choosing a few pre-existing phrases and then sub-stringing them would probably work better for replicating that style. Since I'm strictly using (mostly trochaic) two syllable words, what I have instead is something that makes chants and tongue-twisters: *Dittmer Clifton Upson Ticker Finished* Hipsters burger skillman kurland yeargin, dearmon glistened murtha winney merkin, gibbon hurry herbel gerber lichtman, merchant's mizell scheurer lipschutz durban. Furtive burkman dearly hermance printers, gergen syrup(1) burbles herwitz flurries, prison's wursthaus sneary curtsy whidby, gerbig hertzler(1) learner whistling(1) fernberg. Verdes girsky tilney ernests frickey, kirby bertholf ruggles citric murrelet, cristal kirkey turbos turner philip(1), bermans hitting kerbel fissell kirkner. Girdle virkler(1) ridden stermer pillows, erma wickey burness skirted sturgeons, fish's purdie gilchrist bergfeld cissna, burchell ferger version rigby perlow. — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#6>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAd6GXeYLZEXLxT6BbT4RKS46upezUmhks5rvphcgaJpZM4M9Pnw> .

[rmrenner]

Yup! I haven't bothered stripping them out yet, but a number in parentheses indicates an alternate pronunciation for that word.

[hugovk]

See https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aparrish/pronouncingpy/master/pronouncing/cmudict-0.7b (3.54 MB)

[hugovk]

Is the source code for this up somewhere?

[rmrenner]

Yup! Here's the repository: NaPoGenMo2017.

Since the first draft, I've switched over to using the "pronouncing" python library and I've adjusted the script so that it now picks words of varying length.

Sample output:

megabucks been dusting kunka chen's with

arrowhead arquette o'hara melle than
specker second megabucks it's wendt the
them good pairs o'dell macbeth carvell if
terre_haute credentials debonair was

teleflex chimento scare le slugged le
nels forgetting clenched celeb direction
ventritex been pet louella delp was
recompense regressions jed to hefty