Re: 'Nor' in the World's Languages

Hi Dennis,

On Fri, 11 Aug 2006, Dennis Paul Himes wrote:
[snip]
> >
> > In your conlangs, what kinds of logical connectives have you implemented?
>
>     This is still being worked out in Seezzitonian, but for Gladilatian I
> have:
>
> fna word1 {fna word2} wo word3
>     "exactly one of word1 {or word2} or word3"
>     With two words this reduces to exclusive or.
>
> hra word1 {hra word2} wo word3
>     "word1 {or word2} or word3" (inclusive or)
>
> la word1 {la word2} wo word3
>     "even though word1 {and word2} still word3"
>
> ma word1 {ma word2} we word3
>     "if word1 {and word2} then word3"
>
> ra word1 {ra word2} we word3
>     "word1 {which is similar to word2} which is similar to word3"
>
> sa word1 {sa word2} we word3
>     "word1 {which is word2} which is word3"
>     This is equivalent to apposition in English, and is used mostly for
>         names.
>
> xa word1 {xa word2} we word3
>     "since word1 {and word2} therefore word3"
>
> za word1 {za word2} we word3
>     "word1 {and word2} and word3"
>
>     For each conjunction there is no upper limit to the number of
> conjuncts.
A very practical system, I think. The structure "since A therefore B" is also a
good one; it's equivalent to the structure "if A then B" and the assertion of
"A". The following also partly answers my second question, about how closely
the system matches formal logical connectives:

> Nested conjunctions are unambiguous due to having one word before the last
> conjunct and another before the others.  So A and B or C is:
> za A we hra B wo C
>     for A and (B or C), and
> hra za A we B wo C
>     for (A and B) or C
Using such "complemented conjunctions" gives a natural bracketing of logical terms.
Perhaps we might call them "self-segregating conjunctions"?

Dennis, you've used "wo" as the "complement" to your first two conjunctions, and "we"
as the "complement" to the rest. Since word order brackets them unambiguously,
it would be possible to use just one form (eg "wo") for all complements,
wouldn't it? Taking this one step futher, could the complement be represented
by the null morpheme Ø? Eg
 za A hra B C = A and (B or C),
and
 hra za A B C = (A and B) or C.

Hmm, this is starting to look a lot like RPN (Reverse Polish Notation)!

Regards,
Yahya


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