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This is very interesting -- a kind of topological sort of the dictionary. It seems like a very natural thing to want to do with subject-specific glossaries as well. Often when I approach a new topic or hobby I want a glossary of all the jargon up front, and I want the words ordered from least to most demanding of in-knowledge.
If true, this is interesting from an academic perspective: word meanings can be derived from a space of 60 dimensions. But I’m not still not convinced of the value with respect to language learning. Learning how language is spoken from the fundamental 60 words sounds like trying to learn mathematics from its fundamental axioms. It seems like you might just get caught in a long list of definitions where you might be f…
The 60 words: to see, saw, seen. thing, something, what. this, these. the other, another, else, is the same as, be, am, are, being, was, were. one of. two of. person, people. many of, much of. inside. not, do not, does not, did not, some of. all of. there is, there are. more than, live, alive. big. small. very, kind of. if, then. touch. far from. near to, in a place, someplace, where. above. on a side of, hear, heard…
How would you define left and right based on these words?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would you define left and right based on these words?
The dictionary starts with those 60 words, like axioms in mathematics. Then it builds up a vocabulary on top of them. Left is defined this way: [X is on the right side of your body.] = X is on this side of your body: Most people write using the hand they have on this side of their body. So "on a side of", "people", "be/is", are included in those first 60 words. "body", "write", "hand", etc. are defined after the firs…
It's like if prime numbers were defined as, "The numbers most mathematicians say are prime."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From http://learnthesewordsfirst.com/Lesson-12F.html#12-21 12-20. right. [X is on the right side of your body.] = X is on this side of your body: Most people write using the hand they have on this side of their body. [I use my right hand when I draw pictures.] 12-21. left. [X is on the left side of your body.] = X is on this side of your body: Most people do not write using the hand they have on this side of their bo…
I would think a true minimum set of bootstrapping words would be enough to teach the language to hypothetical aliens who might not have access to a group of humans to poll about handedness.
Put another way, how can we know that aliens won't reconstruct an electromagnetic message as a mirror image of what we sent?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would think a true minimum set of bootstrapping words would be enough to teach the language to hypothetical aliens who might not have access to a group of humans to poll about handedness.
To tell an alien about handedness definitively, without an artifact, may require that both parties are aware of the CP-violation present in the weak interaction. Put another way, how can we know that aliens won't reconstruct an electromagnetic message as a mirror image of what we sent?
If true, this is interesting from an academic perspective: word meanings can be derived from a space of 60 dimensions. But I’m not still not convinced of the value with respect to language learning. Learning how language is spoken from the fundamental 60 words sounds like trying to learn mathematics from its fundamental axioms. It seems like you might just get caught in a long list of definitions where you might be f…
But it's intended as a learning tool and it'll do fine for that.