lmcnulty/markov-words

Generates imaginary but plausible-sounding words

markov-words.py

Generates imaginary but plausible-sounding words:

$ markov-words.py --count 20 --no-apostrophes
pipe
taffy
Eisembinactions
ferabblier
circuitly
espee
Erid
elay
Meling
apped
sloosts
boisoms
stuteria
gulping
posthance
savoils
mooning
action
Tarth
resgives

Dictionaries and Languages

This works for any language where words are composed of more than a few characters:

$ markov-words.py --count 5 --dictionary-file /usr/share/dict/french
pilués
évassent
ouassentâmes
émentasses
diapées

$ wget https://github.com/danakt/russian-words/raw/master/russian.txt
$ markov-words.py --count 5 --dictionary-file russian.txt --encoding 'windows-1251'
безводилануласт
ком
полного
больной
потрическую

$ ./markov-words.py --count 5 --dictionary-file /usr/share/dict/spanish
desoxismo
ñapote
enemadriciar
moteo
cumuleja

$ markov-words.py --count 5 --dictionary-file /usr/share/dict/swedish --encoding 'latin1'
ser
framträngd
förholmars
upptäcknekännes
barna

$ markov-words.py --count 5 --dictionary-file /usr/share/dict/italian
andogliato
trasassico
renevarla
simormassero
ete

Randomness

The probability that a letter will occur in a word depends on the frequency with which it follows after the $n$ previous letters in dictionary words. As $n$ increases, the results go from "completely random" to "somewhat interesting" to "exactly copying the dictionary".

$ markov-words.py -n 0 --count 5 --no-apostrophes
dteoaiunsoaseer
i
tiinrtfa
pcosunuenicrrsn
io

$ markov-words.py -n 1 --count 5 --no-apostrophes
bletin
Cakeahiacyordix
qunatinenomatho
Cogrtern
sswefaty

$ markov-words.py -n 2 --count 5 --no-apostrophes
stawers
lizes
stelchotogithro
supper
horgerliacizes

$ markov-words.py -n 3 --count 5 --no-apostrophes
chua
Quation
alodhoolybug
mists
Dnient

$ markov-words.py -n 4 --count 5 --no-apostrophes
aments
pronolines
garness
unmodify
germainley

$ markov-words.py -n 5 --count 5 --no-apostrophes
lightlier
panning
Sui
succumbs
outbalance

Help

usage: markdov-words [-h] [-d DICTIONARY_FILE] [--no-apostrophes]
                     [--no-capitals] [--encoding ENCODING] [-c COUNT]
                     [-e END_BIAS] [-n N] [-l MAX_LENGTH]

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d DICTIONARY_FILE, --dictionary-file DICTIONARY_FILE
                        Path to dictionary file -- A dictionary file is just
                        one containing a list of words separated by line-
                        breaks. On Unix systems these can usually be found in
                        /usr/share/dict/.
  --no-apostrophes      Exclude words with apostrophes from the dictionary
  --no-capitals         Exclude words starting with A-Z capital letters
  --encoding ENCODING   Number of words to print
  -c COUNT, --count COUNT
                        Number of words to print
  -e END_BIAS, --end-bias END_BIAS
                        Multiplier for the probability that a word will end at
                        a given point -- Note that sometime the probability is
                        zero, so setting this very high does not guarantee
                        that words will not be abnormally long.
  -n N, --n N           The number of previous letters to take into accountin
                        selecting the next one -- For high values of n, the
                        results are likely to exactly reproduce words in the
                        dictionary, whereas for lower values, they are likely
                        to sound implausible.
  -l MAX_LENGTH, --max-length MAX_LENGTH
                        Maximum length of a word, which if reached will simply
                        terminate the word, even if the ending is not a
                        probable one.