The Word List Generator allows users to search through the dailycues Cued English Dictionary to create a list of words that fit certain criteria.
Search syntax, or search expressions, refers to use of symbols in a specific sequence to search for words with specific features. The symbols can be used in combinations to build a search expression that will be the actual command you provide to specify exactly what kinds of words should populate your list. You can look for words that start with, contain, or end with certain phonemes (e.g., a list of words that contain /g/ somewhere in the word.) You can also create lists that specify certain kinds of consonant-vowel constructions (e.g., CVC words like bat, cat, goat, goat, home, yolk). You may also search for words by cues (e.g., words that include handshape 1, 2, 3 and the mouth placement). You can also look for words that exclude certain phonemes and/or cues (e.g., no words containing handshapes 6, 7, 8 or the diphtongs).This feature is useful for instructors preparing introductory materials and for students who are new to the system.
All searches begin by limiting of the scope of your search expression as Starts With, Contains, Ends With, or Exactly.
Select "Starts With" to specify what comes at the beginning of a word. For example, to find all words that begin with /m/, you would use "Starts With" and type "m" into the search box. This will create a list of all words that start with /m/ listed in alphabetical order. For example, (mad, magic, many, mass, mast, mat, mats, etc.)
Select "Contains" to specify what the features you want to occur anywhere in the word. For example, to find all words that contain /m/, you would use "Contains" and type "m" into the search box. This will create a list (in alphabetical order) of all words that have /m/ somewhere in the word. (e.g., amicable, imagine, magic, mat, tram, etc.)
Select "Ends With" to specify what comes at the end of a word. For example, to find all words that end with /m/, you would use "Ends With" and type "m" into the search box. This will create a list of all words that end with /m/ listed in alphabetical order (e.g., am, beam, brim, came, dam, damn, film, firm, gum, home, etc.) Note that all the examples end with the phoneme /m/ eventhough they do not all end with the letter "m".
Select "Exactly" to limit your list to only those features you specify. If you selected "Exactly" and typed /m/ into the search box (as in previous examples), you would not generate any words since no words in English are exactly made up of only /m/.
The symbol $ is used to stand for any one single consonant.
The symbol @ is used to stand for any one single vowel. For example, a seach for Exactly "b@" would find all words that start with the phoneme /b/ followed by any single vowel: bay, bee, bough, bow, boy, bur, bye, etc.
To limit the consonants in a search expressions, name list the consonants, separated by commas, and place them in parentheses immediately following the $ symbol. For example, the expression Exactly $@$(t,d) would look for all words that start with any consonant, followed by any vowel, and end with only one of the consonants /t/, /b/, or /d/. The list of words would include: bad, bat, bead, bird, boat, bud, but, cat, coat, dad, fad, fat, feat, feed, feet, gate, get, goat, god, gout, etc.
Use 1 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 1. For example, the search expression Exactly 1@1 would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 1, followed by any vowel, and ending with one consonant cued by handshape 1. The list of words word include: dad, deed, deep, did, dud, dude, pad, paid, pawed, pod, etc.
| Type of Search | Search Expression | Translation | Some Examples |
| Exactly | 1@1 | Words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 1, followed by any vowel, and ending with one consonant cued by handshape 1. | dad, deed, deep, did, dud, dude, pad, paid, pawed, pod, etc. |
| Exactly | 2@ | Words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 2, followed by any vowel. | caw, coo, cow, coy, K, key, the, thee, they, though, V, vie, etc. |
| Exactly | 3@ | Words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 3, followed by any vowel. | hay, he, hi, hoe, how, raw, ray, row, rye, say, see, sigh, sir, so, sow, etc. |
| Exactly | 4@4 | Words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 4, followed by any vowel, and ending with one consonant cued by handshape 4. | babe, bean, bib, bob, bub, burn, naan, nine, none, noon, when, etc. |
| Exactly | |||
| Ends With | @6 | Words that end with a vowel immediately followed by any consonant cued by handshape 6. | abysmal, April, autumnal, bull, delightful, dull, full, gull, grateful, sequential, etc. |
| Starts With | 7 | Words that start with any consonant cued by handshape 7. | jab, jerk, jibe, judge, June, gab, gate, goat, grip, grunge, thief, threat, through |
| Contains | 8 | Words that contain any consonant cued by handshape 8. | aching, adding, beauty, beautiful, catch, chart, chop, copying, funky, hitting, itch, sing, song, thing, thank, yarn, yellow, etc. |
Use 2 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 2. For example, the search expression Exactly 2@ would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 2, followed by any vowel. The list of words word include: caw, coo, cow, coy, K, key, the, thee, they, though, V, vie, etc.
Use 3 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 3. For example, the search expression Exactly 3@ would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 3, followed by any vowel. The list of words word include: hay, he, hi, hoe, how, raw, ray, row, rye, say, see, sigh, sir, so, sow, etc.
Use 4 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 4. For example, the search expression Exactly 4@4 would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 4, followed by any vowel, and ending with one consonant cued by handshape 4. The list of words word include: babe, bean, bib, bob, bub, burn, naan, nine, none, noon, when, etc.
Use 5 in a search expression to stand for any single occurence of handshape 5. For example, the search expression Exactly 5@n would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is either a single consonant cued by handshape 5 or just the open handshape for no consonant, followed by any vowel, and ending with the consonant /n/. The list of words word include: an, earn, fan, man, on, own, tan, fern, in, fin, tin, turn, etc.
Use 6 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 6. For example, the search expression Exactly 6@ would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 6, followed by any vowel. The list of words word include: la, law, lay, Lee, lei, lie, Lou, low, she, shoe, show, shy, way, we, why, woe, wow, etc.
Use 7 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 6. For example, the search expression Exactly 6@ would generate a list of words where the first phoneme is any consonant cued by handshape 6, followed by any vowel. The list of words word include: la, law, lay, Lee, lei, lie, Lou, low, she, shoe, show, shy, way, we, why, woe, wow, etc.
Use 8 in a search expression to stand for any single phoneme cued by handshape 8. For example, the search expression Contains 8 would generate a list of any words that, when cued, contain at least one occurence of handshape 8. The list of words word include: aching, chart, chop, hitting, itch, sing, song, thing, thank, yarn, yellow, etc.
Use M in your search expression to stand for one single phoneme cued by the mouth placement. For example, a search for: Exactly "bMd" would look for words that begin with /b/, followed by a vowel from the mouth placement, and end with /d/. The word list would contain the words bead and bird.
Use C in your search expression to stand for one single phoneme cued by the chin placement. For example, the search expression Exactly "sCz" would look for words that begin with /s/, followed by any one vowel cued by the chin placement, and ending with /z/. The word list would include: saws, says, sues, etc.
Use T in your search expression to stand for one single phoneme cued by the throat placement. For example, the search expression Exactly 3T1 would look for words that, when cued, begin with handshape 2, followed by any one vowel cued by the throat placement, and ending with handshape 1. The word list would include: had, hid, hood, rad, rid, sad, sap, sip, Syd, etc.
SF (Capital SF)
Use SF in your search expression to stand for one single phoneme cued by the throat placement. For example, the search expression Exactly 3T1 would look for words that, when cued, begin with handshape 2, followed by any one vowel cued by the throat placement, and ending with handshape 1. The word list would include: had, hid, hood, rad, rid, sad, sap, sip, Syd, etc.
C one single phoneme from
T one single phoneme from
SF one single phoneme from
SD one single phoneme from
SA
Use (CT) in your search expression to stand for one single phoneme cued by the chin-throat diphtong. For example, a search for: Exactly "b(CT)" would look for words that begin with /b/, followed by a vowel cued by a chin-throat diphthong. The word list would contain the words bay and boy.
Use (ST) in your search expression to stand for one single phoneme cued by the side-throat diphtong. For example, a search for: Exactly "b(ST)" would look for words that begin with /b/, followed by a vowel cued by a side-throat diphthong. The word list would contain the words bough and bye.
Use *, an asterisk, in your search expression to stand for a single occurence of the flick. For example, a search for: Contains * would look for all words that contain a flick somewhere in the word.
*[ ]
Specify handshape that gets flicked
Once you generate a list, you can share it with others. This is a useful tool for instructors to