universal-rhymer

A Node.js library to find rhymes and count syllables from a CMU-style phoneme dictionary in ARPABET or IPA formats.

Installation

Install from npm:

npm install universal-rhymer

Usage

Use the library in your TypeScript or JavaScript project:

import { initDictionary } from "universal-rhymer";

async function demo() {
  const { countSyllables, findRhyme, findRhymesBySyllable } =
    await initDictionary("path/to/dict.txt");

  // Count syllables
  console.log(countSyllables("time"));
  // => 1

  // Find flat list of rhymes
  console.log(findRhyme("time"));
  // => ["rhyme", "lime", ...]

  // Find rhymes grouped by syllable count
  console.log(findRhymesBySyllable("time"));
  // => { 1: ["rhyme", "lime"], ... }
}

demo();

CLI Demo

A simple command-line demo is included in demo.ts. Run it with:

npm run demo -- path/to/dictionary [word]

• path/to/dictionary: path to your ARPABET or IPA dictionary file
• [word]: optional word to analyze (defaults to time)

CSV Conversion

Convert a CSV-based dictionary into the CMU/IPA format using csv2dict.ts:

• If your CSV has a header row starting with word, it will be skipped.
• Multiple phoneme columns:

  word,phoneme1,phoneme2,phoneme3
  time,T,AY,M

• Single-quoted phoneme string:

  word,phonemes
  time,"T AY M"

Run the converter:

npm run csv2dict -- input.csv output.dict

The output.dict file can then be used directly:

npm run demo -- output.dict [word]

API Reference

async function initDictionary(
  path: string
): Promise<{
  /** Count syllables of a word using the first pronunciation */
  countSyllables(word: string): number;

  /** Find an array of words that rhyme with the input word */
  findRhyme(word: string): string[];

  /**
   * Find rhymes grouped by their syllable count.
   * Returns a mapping: syllableCount -> array of rhyming words
   */
  findRhymesBySyllable(word: string): Record<number, string[]>;
}>;

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or pull request.

License

MIT