diff --git a/kenlm/lm/search_trie.cc b/kenlm/lm/search_trie.cc
index 77f0d101..780f37f8 100644
--- a/kenlm/lm/search_trie.cc
+++ b/kenlm/lm/search_trie.cc
@@ -544,10 +544,10 @@ void ARPAToSortedFiles(util::FilePiece &f, const std::vector<uint64_t> &counts,
   // Only use as much buffer as we need.  
   size_t buffer_use = 0;
   for (unsigned int order = 2; order < counts.size(); ++order) {
-    buffer_use = std::max(buffer_use, (sizeof(WordIndex) * order + 2 * sizeof(float)) * counts[order - 1]);
+    buffer_use = std::max(buffer_use, (size_t)((sizeof(WordIndex) * order + 2 * sizeof(float)) * counts[order - 1]));
   }
-  buffer_use = std::max(buffer_use, (sizeof(WordIndex) * counts.size() + sizeof(float)) * counts.back());
-  buffer = std::min(buffer, buffer_use);
+  buffer_use = std::max(buffer_use, (size_t)((sizeof(WordIndex) * counts.size() + sizeof(float)) * counts.back()));
+  buffer = std::min((size_t)buffer, buffer_use);
 
   util::scoped_memory mem;
   mem.reset(malloc(buffer), buffer, util::scoped_memory::MALLOC_ALLOCATED);
diff --git a/moses/src/PCNTools.h b/moses/src/PCNTools.h
index ad572609..a9cf9831 100644
--- a/moses/src/PCNTools.h
+++ b/moses/src/PCNTools.h
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
 #include <cstdlib>
 
 /** A couple of utilities to read .pcn files. A python-compatible format
-  * for encoding confusion networks.
+  * for encoding confusion networks and word lattices.
   */
 namespace PCN {
 
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ namespace PCN {
   typedef std::vector<CNAlt> CNCol;
   typedef std::vector<CNCol> CN;
 
-  /** Given a string ((('foo',0.1),('bar',0.9)),...) representation of a
-    * confusion net in PCN format, return a CN object 
+  /** Given a string ((('foo',0.1,1),('bar',0.9,2)),...) representation of a
+    * word lattice in PCN format, return a CN object representing the lattice
     */
   CN parsePCN(const std::string& in);
   
diff --git a/moses/src/WordLattice.cpp b/moses/src/WordLattice.cpp
index ca5e8a16..93e53ab7 100644
--- a/moses/src/WordLattice.cpp
+++ b/moses/src/WordLattice.cpp
@@ -30,40 +30,33 @@ void WordLattice::Print(std::ostream& out) const {
 	out<<"\n\n";
 }
 
-int WordLattice::Read(std::istream& in,const std::vector<FactorType>& factorOrder)
+int WordLattice::InitializeFromPCNDataType(const PCN::CN& cn, const std::vector<FactorType>& factorOrder, const std::string& debug_line)
 {
-	Clear();
-	std::string line;
-	if(!getline(in,line)) return 0;
-	std::map<std::string, std::string> meta=ProcessAndStripSGML(line);
-	if (meta.find("id") != meta.end()) { this->SetTranslationId(atol(meta["id"].c_str())); }
 	size_t numLinkParams = StaticData::Instance().GetNumLinkParams();
 	size_t numLinkWeights = StaticData::Instance().GetNumInputScores();
 	size_t maxSizePhrase = StaticData::Instance().GetMaxPhraseLength();
 	
 	//when we have one more weight than params, we add a word count feature
 	bool addRealWordCount = ((numLinkParams + 1) == numLinkWeights);
-
-	PCN::CN cn = PCN::parsePCN(line);
 	data.resize(cn.size());
 	next_nodes.resize(cn.size());
 	for(size_t i=0;i<cn.size();++i) {
-		PCN::CNCol& col = cn[i];
+		const PCN::CNCol& col = cn[i];
 		if (col.empty()) return false;
 		data[i].resize(col.size());
 		next_nodes[i].resize(col.size());
 		for (size_t j=0;j<col.size();++j) {
-			PCN::CNAlt& alt = col[j];
+			const PCN::CNAlt& alt = col[j];
 			
 			
 			//check for correct number of link parameters
 			if (alt.first.second.size() != numLinkParams) {
-				TRACE_ERR("ERROR: need " << numLinkParams << " link parameters, found " << alt.first.second.size() << " while reading column " << i << " from " << line << "\n");
+				TRACE_ERR("ERROR: need " << numLinkParams << " link parameters, found " << alt.first.second.size() << " while reading column " << i << " from " << debug_line << "\n");
 				return false;
 			}
 			
 			//check each element for bounds
-			std::vector<float>::iterator probsIterator;
+			std::vector<float>::const_iterator probsIterator;
 			data[i][j].second = std::vector<float>(0);
 			for(probsIterator = alt.first.second.begin(); probsIterator < alt.first.second.end(); probsIterator++) {
 				IFVERBOSE(1) {
@@ -114,6 +107,18 @@ int WordLattice::Read(std::istream& in,const std::vector<FactorType>& factorOrde
 	return !cn.empty();
 }
 
+int WordLattice::Read(std::istream& in,const std::vector<FactorType>& factorOrder)
+{
+	Clear();
+	std::string line;
+	if(!getline(in,line)) return 0;
+	std::map<std::string, std::string> meta=ProcessAndStripSGML(line);
+	if (meta.find("id") != meta.end()) { this->SetTranslationId(atol(meta["id"].c_str())); }
+
+	PCN::CN cn = PCN::parsePCN(line);
+        return InitializeFromPCNDataType(cn, factorOrder, line);
+}
+
 void WordLattice::GetAsEdgeMatrix(std::vector<std::vector<bool> >& edges) const
 {
   edges.resize(data.size()+1,std::vector<bool>(data.size()+1, false));
diff --git a/moses/src/WordLattice.h b/moses/src/WordLattice.h
index 0dca92dc..88be7bb4 100644
--- a/moses/src/WordLattice.h
+++ b/moses/src/WordLattice.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include <vector>
 #include "ConfusionNet.h"
+#include "PCNTools.h"
 
 namespace Moses
 {
@@ -23,6 +24,12 @@ class WordLattice: public ConfusionNet {
 	// is it possible to get from the edge of the previous word range to the current word range
 	virtual bool CanIGetFromAToB(size_t start, size_t end) const;
 	
+	/** Given a lattice represented using the PCN::CN data type (topologically sorted agency list
+	 * representation), initialize the WordLattice object
+	 */
+	int InitializeFromPCNDataType(const PCN::CN& cn, const std::vector<FactorType>& factorOrder, const std::string& debug_line = "");
+	/** Read from PLF format (1 lattice per line)
+	 */
 	int Read(std::istream& in,const std::vector<FactorType>& factorOrder);
 
 	/** Convert internal representation into an edge matrix