Cog allows you to quickly compare and analyze word lists from different language varieties using an iterative approach. Initially, you might be confronted with a large amount of data and have a limited understanding of the phonological and morphological structures of the language varieties. Using an iterative approach, you can quickly make sense of the data and then progressively refine the word lists and settings, improving the comparison results and your understanding of the varieties at each step. Cog provides you with analytical tools to assist you with many tedious and mundane tasks, freeing you up to focus on higher level sociolinguistic questions.

For users interested in developing a unified orthography, doing comparative phonology, or doing historical comparative work, Cog also compares the distribution of phones between the varieties. This Segments tool can help the user identify differences in phone distribution between varieties as well as assist in identifying transcription inconsistency.

The Cog user interface is divided into three major tasks: Input, Compare, and Analyze. This tutorial provides you with the details on how to complete these tasks using Cog. You can continue repeating these tasks until you are satisfied with the results.

• Inputting word lists
• Preparing word lists
• Comparing word lists
• Analyzing comparison results