aspell: How Aspell Selects an Appropriate Dictionary

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1 5.2 How Aspell Selects an Appropriate Dictionary
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1 If the `master' option is set in any fashion (via the command line, the
1 `ASPELL_CONF' environment variable, or a configuration file) Aspell
1 will look for a dictionary of that name.  If one could not be found, it
1 will complain.
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1    Otherwise it will use the value of the `lang' option to search for
1 an appropriate dictionary.  If more than one dictionary is found for
1 the given language string then it will look for a dictionary with a
1 matching variety if the `variety' option is set.  If it is not set it
1 will look for a dictionary without a variety.  If after matching the
1 `lang' and `variety' there is still more than one dictionary available
1 it will find one with the size closest to the value of the `size'
1 option.  The default size is 60.  If Aspell cannot find a dictionary
1 based on the `lang' option then it will give up and complain.
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1    If the `lang' option is not explicitly set its value will be based
1 on the `LC_MESSAGES' locale.  This locale is generally taken from the
1 `LC_MESSAGES' environment variable or the `LANG' environment variable
1 if `LC_MESSAGES' is not set.  However, if Aspell is being used as a
1 library from within another program which already explicitly set the
1 locale then it will use the locale of the library rather than the
1 environment variables.  If Aspell cannot determine the language from
1 the `LC_MESSAGES' locale than it will default to `en_US'.
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1    The list option `dict-alias' can be used to influence which
1 dictionary is selected by creating an alias from one dictionary name to
1 another.  This option is most useful when there is more than one
1 dictionary for a given language.  For example `add-dict-alias en_US
1 en_US-w_accents' will cause Aspell to choose the accented version of
1 the American English dictionary instead of the non-accented version.
1 To add an alias use:
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1      add-dict-alias NAME VAL
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