How I make a linguistic handout

Making a linguistic handout needs some tricks. Using MS word is not ideal because the output is not that beautiful and linguistic contents are not . In this post I explain how I make a linguistic handout with markdown and of course LaTeX.

The workflow

I usually write documents using markdown and convert it to pdf using pandoc, as explained in my previous posts. I have a same head/template for all handouts, so that the style remains the same for a course. I use different LaTeX packages to format various linguistic contents.

Tools and LaTeX packages

The following lists some of the packages I use to typeset linguistic contents.

• tikz-qtree: Draw syntactic trees and feature geometry
• linguex: Manage linguistic examples
• vowel: Draw vowel charts
• phonrule: Typeset phonological rules
• tipa: Input IPA
• TikZ: Draw various figures

These packages are very convenient and easy to use, but some more explanation maybe better for more efficient use of them. tikz-qtree can easily draw syntax trees and feature geometry, but it does not provide a functionality for the delinking of linking lines. For such a case, I use some the tikz library positioning to add a equal symbol to the line.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\Tree[.+consonant [.\node(l2){laryngeal}; \node(a2){aspiration}; ] [.supralaryngeal ] ]
\draw[dashed] (a1) to[bend right=80] (a2);
# add the equal symbol
\node[below= 0.012cm of l2] {=};
\end{tikzpicture}

Preparing exam papers

Finally, I write pure LaTeX when preparing exam papers, to get more control over the layout. In addition to the packages mentioned above, I use the package exam to format T/F questions, multiple choices, and fill-in the blanks, etc.