Re: METAGRAM + OOP = ABLE a conlang experiment

--- Caleb Hines <cph9fa@...> wrote:

<snip>

> BTW, how would you distinguish (or would it be
> possible to do so) between
> the two different possible meanings of an ambiguous
> sentence like this:
>
> "The philosophical Greeks like to talk."
>
How about this:

There are two families of assertions: Assertions about
things and assertions about assertions.  Just to
clarify, although this is not strictly necessary, we
will enclose the arguments of assertions about
assertions in square brackets.  Thus we might write

[ assertion 1 ].Implies[ assertion 2 ]

Now we have to ask what is meant by "is philosphical"
and by "likes to talk".

Colloquially, "is philosophical" can mean:

1. Has an interest in philosophy
2. Is exceptionally thoughtful and reflective
3. Is exceptionally mellow and easy going

among others.

"likes to talk" can mean anything from "enjoys
talking" to "talks habitually or obsessively."

Just picking one interpretation of each at random we
might write:

Greek.Disposition( philosophical ).Enjoy( Talk )

    OR

[ Greek.Disposition( philosophical )].Implies[
Greek.Enjoy( Talk )]

The first case states two unconnected facts; A
certain Greek is philosophical and a certain Greek
enjoys talking.  The second makes the second assertion
conditional on the truth of the first assertion.
Specifically, it states that if a certain Greek is
philosophical THEN that certain Greek enjoys talking.

If we meant to imply that it is true that ALL Greeks
are both philosophical and enjoy talking then we would
write:

All[ Greek ].Disposition( philosophical ).Enjoy( Talk
)

With reference to the "Implies" assertion, it might be
possible to rephrase that without the "Implies" by
writing:

Any[ Greek.Disposition( philosophical )].Enjoy( Talk )

In this instance the whole "thing" that "enjoys
talking" is "Any[ Greek.Disposition( philosophical )]"
and the "Implies" is kind of invisibly embedded in the
structure by implication.

Just like if we said "The red ball is falling off the
roof.":

[ ball.Color( red )].Fall( OFF:roof )

which differs from "The ball is red and is falling off
the roof:

ball.Color( red ).Fall( OFF:roof )

The difference is subtle, but in the first case the
"thing" falling is "ball.Color( red )" and in the
second case the "thing" falling is "ball", and
incidently, we also know that it is red.

I'm not sure what all these subtle distinctions might
actually mean, if anything, but I'll give it some
thought.

--gary