Re: Artificial Language : How does it work please?

On Wed, 11 Nov 1998 16:01:33 -0500 Bryan Maloney <bjm10@...>
writes:

>> based on the "is a" realation; owl isa bird, bird isa animal,
>
>owl isa symbol of wisdom, animal isa derogatory term used to say that
>somebody's behavior is socially unacceptable.  Idunno, still feels
>kind
>of clunky to me...
This is the actual WordNet progression:
----------

owl, bird of Minerva, bird of night -- (nocturnal bird of prey with
hawk-like beak and claws and large head with front-facing eyes)
|
bird of prey, raptor, raptorial bird -- (any of numerous carnivorous
birds that hunt and kill other animals)
|
bird -- (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers
and forelimbs modified as wings)
|
vertebrate, craniate -- (animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton
with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or
cranium)
|
chordate -- (any animal of the phylum Chordata having a notochord or
spinal column)
|
animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna -- (a living
organism characterized by voluntary movement)
|
life form, organism, being, living thing -- (any living entity)
|
entity, something -- (anything having existence (living or nonliving))
----------

Though "owl" can be a symbol of wisdom, an owl in itself is not
wisdom...thus it would not be listed as such in a progression such as
this where we're talking about the *biological* nature of the owl.

As far as "animal" is concerned, once more we're talking about biology.
The meaning you mentioned is actually in WordNet, as the first sense of
the adjective form of the word:

1. animal, carnal, fleshy, sensual -- (of the appetites and passions of
the body; ("animal instincts"; "carnal knowledge"; "fleshy desire"; "a
sensual delight in eating"; "music is the only sensual pleasure without
vice")


I dunno, it doesn't seem all that clunky to me...

----------
Josh Brandt-Young <neonwave7@...>
http://geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6073/
"After the tempest, I behold, once more, the weasel."
(Mispronunciation of Ancient Greek)

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