Re: Word classification (was Re: The philosophical language fallacy (was Re: Evanescence of information (was Re: Going NOMAIL: Honeymoon)))

Rick Harrison wrote:
> While working on the current revision of the ULD I've made a few changes in
> the categories. Here's how they are organized now, with a few examples of
> what's in each category. There's a subtle flow from each category to the
> next, a hidden (something for which there is no word).
 >
 > On the other hand, all categorizing schemes are arbitrary. Pondering the
 > best category for a concept sometimes seems fun but sometimes seems
like a
 > waste of limited time and energy. So in the long run I plan to remove
rigid
 > categories from the ULD and invite people to contribute alternative
 > classification schemes.

It may still be useful to have a "standard" classification for
reference, but I've had some ideas for alternative categories. A while
back I started on an organized vocabulary list for my languages, which
was intended to have 150 "essential" words, 300 "basic", 600
"intermediate", and up to 1200 "advanced" and 2400 "expert" words if I
ever got that far. I cross-referenced the words with the Swadesh list
and the ULD when relevant. So this makes it easy to sort by ULD index
and compare the classifications.

> 1. adpositions
> (above, under, in front of, behind)
I didn't have a separate category for these words, but included them
mainly in the "location", "time", and "motion" groups.

> 2. function words
> (and, if, not, you)
I put "when" and "where" into the "location" and "time" groups. Some of
the others ended up in a "grammatical" group along with words like
"for", "with", "one" (as in "I want the blue one"), and the pronouns.

> 3. people
> (child, mother, friend, hermit)
I kept the family members in this group; others ended up in a "social"
group along with words scattered throughout the other categories.

> 4. groupings of people
> (tribe, club, team) There are very few items in this category, possibly due
> to my reclusive nature -- maybe I have trouble remembering to add concepts
> that should go into this pigeonhole.
Words specifically dealing with government and military have their own
categories; the rest end up in the general "social" category.

> 5. body parts and substances
> (arm, heart, bone, urine)
I have a category for anatomical terms; other words in this list (e.g.,
"blood", "egg", "dung", "fetus", "gene") fall into a general "biology"
category, with "meat" included in the "food" category, and a "botany"
category for plant anatomy.

> 6. body terms
> (birth, male, fever, drunk)
These are divided between "biology" and "medical".

> 7. bodily actions
> (walk, eat, laugh, throw)
These are split among different categories (e.g. motion for "walk" and
"throw", food for "eat", emotion for "laugh")

> 8. the senses: light, sound, heat (etc)
> (red, loud, delicious, warm) This is a freshly reorganized category. Some of
> the entries such as "ugly" and "delicious" could have gone into category 19.
I also have sense as a category, including colors, sound-related words,
flavors, verbs having to do with the senses like "show" and "feel", and
related words.

> 9. animal species and types
> (mammal, mosquito, turkey) Items in this category are loosely bundled into
> sub-categories based on common folks' thought processes rather than
> scientific taxonomy.
I have a "mythology" category for words like "dragon", and "virus" goes
into a general "life" category for living things that aren't animals or
plants.

> 10. plant species and types
> (tree, banana, potato)
>
> 11. natural world
> (sky, rain, cave, volcano)
I split this into subcategories (geography, geology, weather, astronomy).

> 12. tools and basic artifacts
> (knife, hammer, chain, lamp)
I have a tool category -- "chain" is outside my first 3 lists and hasn't
been categorized yet, but I think it could go with the shape words.
Others in this general part of the ULD end up in various lists:
fasteners, weapons, transportation, time, shape, architecture,
measurement, etc.

> 13. containers, supports, furniture
> (basket, bottle, desk, bathtub) The current entry-numbering system only
> allows 100 items in each category. Category 12 overflowed, forcing me to
> come up with some way to skim off a few items into a new category. This is
> what came to mind; a category of things that "hold stuff in or hold stuff up."
I have containers and furniture as categories. Supports I guess would
include words like "shelf", which isn't in my first 3 categorized groups
so I don't have a category for it yet.

> 14. clothing and fabrics
> (silk, thread, shirt, shoe)
I've got thread with the "shape" words, but the rest of these words are
in a clothing category.

> 15. buildings and institutions
> (roof, kitchen, house, bank)
The first part of this list is an architecture category; the rest of the
words end up in categories related to the purpose of the building
(religion, business, medicine, transportation, knowledge, government).

> 16. government and hierarchy
> (border, tax, army, arrest)
These are split between government, military, and social categories.

> 17. business and transactions
> (money, give, receive, generous)
Most of these are in a business category, although some are government
or social.

> 18. religion and the supernatural
> (heaven, ghost, holy, funeral) Recently separated "angel" from "fairy" as
> requested long ago by Herman Miller.
Most of these words are in the religion category.

> 19. evaluation and judgement
> (good, fair, respect, doubt) This is a new category, designed to help
> eliminate the final "misc. abstract concepts" category that existed in
> earlier ULDs.
I have "doubt" in a knowledge category; "fair" and "respect" in the
general "social" category, "good" and "bad" I have in a "condition"
category along with various adjective-type words.

> 20. mind and private emotion
> (think, notice, remember, fear) Another new category, into which I stuffed
> emotions and mental processes that seem intrinsic or internal rather than
> social. Many of the items in this category could reasonably have been placed
> elsewhere, I suppose.
I have "emotion" and "knowledge" categories.

> 21. behavior and social emotion
> (pride, forgive, loyal, revenge)
These would mainly fit into the general "social" category, or into the
"emotion" category.

> 22. communication
> (language, message, alphabet, pencil)
I have a general "communication" category; some of the words in this
part of the ULD also fit into other categories.

> 23. games and entertainment
> (toy, music, baseball, animated cartoon)
I have music and games as distinct categories.

> 24. identity
> (same, different, resemble, version)
>
> 25. numerals
> (two, half, second, twice)
>
> 26. quantity
> (kilogram, total, many, part)
>
> 27. degree
> (more, less, at least, almost)
>
> 28. dimension
> (big, shrink, thick, position)
>
> 29. direction
> (up, south, destination, parallel)
>
> 30. motion
> (leave, send, carry, visit)
>
> 31. vehicles, etc.
> (motorcycle, bus, railroad, oar)
>
> 32. time and sequence
> (the past, recently, next, the day after tomorrow)
>
> 33. substances
> (water, metal, dirt, glass)
>
> 34. foodstuffs
> (bread, butter, soup, salad)
>
> 35. forms of matter
> (curve, helix, layer, juice) One of my favorite categories, although I don't
> think anyone else would agree that all these things are related.
Many of these are in a "shape" category; others are associated with
"chemistry" and "physics".

> 36. qualities of matter
> (smooth, clean, dry, hollow)
>
> 37. matter-related actions
> (boil, dig, mix, sink)
Many of these are in a general "action" group, although some go into
other categories ("hold, contain" with the containers,

> 38. misc. matter/energy terms
> (alkaline, atom, electricity, fire)
I have subcategories for "chemistry" and "physics" (I know, chemistry is
really physics, but in ordinary life the two seem distinct enough).

> 39. events and endeavors
> (result, task, progress, use)
>
> These categories will probably be added in the next version:
>
> 40. onomatopes
> (bang, boom, splash)
>
> 41. interjections
> (eek, ouch, oops)
>
> 42. specifics and proper nouns
> (Monday, Europe, Pacific Ocean)
How about pronouns?