Research & Education · Linguistic Research

LexiQamus

A linguistic research platform that helps scholars decipher Ottoman Turkish manuscripts through advanced historical dictionary search.

Client request

What the client needed.

LexiQamus needed to move from Beta 1 to Beta 2 and modernize a legacy PHP platform. The work included improving unreliable search results, optimizing MySQL queries, fixing administrative and subscription workflows, and building search tools capable of handling ambiguous historical Ottoman Turkish text.

Our approach

What we did.

We migrated the application to Laravel, optimized its data layer, and rebuilt the search experience around the realities of Ottoman manuscripts. Researchers can use exact, word, and partial matching alongside similar-letter recognition and phonetic search to explore difficult or incomplete text more accurately.

Delivered

Useful from day one.

Legacy PHP to Laravel migration
Advanced linguistic search engine
Exact, word, and partial search modes
Similar-letter recognition for Rika and Divani scripts
Phonetic similarity search
MySQL query and data retrieval optimization
Vue.js research interface improvements
Administration, subscription, and payment stabilization

Technology

Built with.

Platform modernization

Beta 1 rebuilt for a reliable Beta 2 release.

LexiQamus had a legacy plain-PHP codebase with search, administration, subscription, and database issues. We migrated and stabilized the platform for continued development.

Legacy PHP to Laravel migration
Backend refactoring and application-architecture modernization
MySQL query and data-retrieval optimization
Administrative dashboard fixes and improvements
Subscription and payment workflow stabilization
System-wide debugging, testing, and reliability work

Historical-text search

Search designed for difficult Ottoman manuscripts.

The search engine was extended to accommodate incomplete text, ambiguous handwritten characters, phonetic alternatives, and different matching strategies required by historical research.

Exact search with extended pattern matching and infinity operator support
Word search within multi-word dictionary entries
Partial-pattern search for damaged or illegible text
Similar-letter recognition for Rika and Divani handwriting
Phonetic-similarity search for alternative interpretations
Improved relevance, consistency, and completeness of results

Research experience

Better tools for navigating historical dictionaries.

The front end was updated to make advanced search accessible and help researchers move through entries, definitions, references, and source material.

Vue.js interface improvements for advanced search
Dictionary-entry and related-reference navigation
Match highlighting within search results
Ottoman Turkish character-input improvements
More intuitive research workflows
Improved platform administration for ongoing operations