THEORY: What IS language anyway?

Here's my off-the-cuff theory:

We each construct a mental model of the world. When we
"remember" an event we do so by simulating a recurance
of that event within our mental world model.

When we wish to tell another about an event our hope
is that the listener will be able to construct a
simulation of that event in her own mental model of
the world. Language, therefore, consists of a sequence
of instructions for how to carry out a mental
simulation of an event.

When we say that we have "understood" your sentence,
what we really mean is that we have succesfully
followed your instructions and carried out a
simulation of that event.

Even conveying static information, such as "Einstein
was a physicist." can be interpreted as a command to
the world simulation, in this case making an attribute
assignment:

     Einstein.occupation = physicist;

Using computer terminology, then, a "sentence" is a
high-level command which is "compiled" (in the
computer language sense) into a sequence of low-level
commands which, when executed, cause the simulation to
take place.

For example: "John gave a book to Marsha." compiles
into the command:

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=John.inventory,
          To=Marsha.inventory,
          Initiator=John,
          Mode=voluntary
     );

"Marsha took the book from John."

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=John.inventory,
          To=Marsha.inventory,
          Initiator=Marsha,
          Mode=unspecified
     );

"Marsha stole the book from John."

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=John.inventory,
          To=Marsha.inventory,
          Initiator=Marsha,
          Mode=involuntary
     );

"Marsha lost the book."

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=Marsha.inventory,
          To=lost.inventory,
          Initiator=Marsha,
          Mode=involuntary
     );

"John found the book."

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=lost.inventory,
          To=John.inventory,
          Initiator=John,
          Mode=voluntary
     );

"John threw the book away."

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=John.inventory,
          To=discards.inventory,
          Initiator=John,
          Mode=voluntary
     );

"Marsha put the book on the shelf."

     Move(
          Object=book,
          From=Marsha.inventory,
          To=shelf.inventory,
          Initiator=Marsha,
          Mode=voluntary
     );

 "Marsha went to Chicago with John."

      Move(
          Object=Marsha,
          From=Marsha.location,
          To=Chicago,
          Initiator=Marsha,
          Mode=voluntary
     );
     Move(
          Object=John,
          From=John.location,
          To=Chicago,
          Initiator=John,
          Mode=voluntary
     );
     Join( John, Marsha );

The key, then, to having a computer "understand"
language is programming the computer to compile
sentences into simulation commands and then to carry
out the simulation in the computer's own world model.

And the key to understanding what language is, is to
realize that is a sequence of simulation commands from
one world model to another world model.

--gary

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