<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PostalCode"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS Mincho";
panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@MS Mincho";
panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
pre
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;}
tt
{font-family:"Courier New";}
p.Computer1, li.Computer1, div.Computer1
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;}
span.EmailStyle20
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:Arial;
color:blue;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Hi Ken,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Recently, Yorick Wilks posted two papers
on this forum. One explained how semantic primitives were viewed differently
by each of the research groups, none of which settled for the previous group’s
semantic primitives. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>In the second paper on Semantic
Preferences, he states his belief that many choices of primitive sets are
useful, adequate, and helpful in characterizing semantics. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>So my conclusion is that many semantic
primitive sets exist, and each person chooses (or invents) her own. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>The reason semantic primitives can be
expected to exist, but not be exactly the same from person to person, is well
expressed by Steven Pinker in his book <i><span style='font-style:italic'>How
the Mind Works</span></i>: <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Tooby and Cosmides point
out a fundamental consequence<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>of sexual reproduction:
every generation, each person's blueprint is scrambled with someone else's.
That means we must be qualitatively alike. If two people's genomes had designs
for different kinds of machines, like an electric motor and a gasoline engine,
the new pastiche would not specify a working machine at all. Natural selection
is a homogenizing force within a species; it eliminates the vast majority of<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>macroscopic design
variants because they are not improvements. Natural selection does depend on
there having been variation in the past, but it feeds off the variation and
uses it up. That is why all normal people have the same physical organs, and
why we all surely have the same<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>mental organs as well.
There are, to be sure, microscopic variations among people, mostly small
differences in the molecule-by-molecule sequence of many of our proteins. But
at the level of functioning organs, physical and mental, people work in the
same ways. Differences among<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>people, for all their
endless fascination to us as we live our lives, are of minor interest when we
ask how the mind works.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>The differences are more pronounced than
the similarities because we use them in communication to stamp our purpose on
the world. But the people who study odd languages have found enormous
variation among the 6,000 known so far, and culture has obvious effects on
encouraging some and discouraging others, so that the primitives may not be
fully linguistic in nature. However, as the movie title went, there will be
primitives. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>JMHO,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>-Rich</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Rich Cooper<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>EnglishLogicKernel.com</span></font><font color=blue><span
style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Rich AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>9 4 9 \ 5 2 5 - 5 7 1 2</span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:windowtext'> corpora-bounces@uib.no [mailto:corpora-bounces@uib.no] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Ken Litkowski<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, January 18, 2011
9:47 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> corpora@hd.uib.no<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Corpora-List] Semantic
primitives</span></font><font color=black><span style='color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><tt><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>In a <a
href="http://mailman.uib.no/public/corpora/2011-January/012085.html">recent
posting</a>, John Sowa criticized so-called primitives as being the results of
analysis by adults writing dissertations and expressed the belief that there
are no primitives that are truly primitive. I would agree with John to the
extent such work may be <i><span style='font-style:italic'>a priori</span></i>.
However, I am concerned that his statements may have a discouraging effect on
research into primitives, particularly given his well-deserved reputation.
Similar statements by Veronis and Ide in 1991 had such an effect on research
with "machine-readable dictionaries" (all the rage during the late
1970s and 1980s).</span></font></tt><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><br>
<br>
<tt><font face="Courier New">I have spent 40 years with my digraph analysis of
dictionary definitions, most notably in early 2002 helping <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oxford</st1:place></st1:City> identify hypernyms (superordinates)
for a noun hierarchy derived from the <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Oxford
Dictionary of Engliah</span></i>. This work has been of some use in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oxford</st1:place></st1:City>'s <a
href="http://oxforddictionaries.com/">latest roll-out</a>. My techniques have
proved useful in analyzing <a
href="http://www.clres.com/online-papers/PrepositionClasses.pdf">prepositions</a>
and FrameNet <a href="http://www.clres.com/db/feindex.html">frame elements</a>
(which was aided by the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oxford</st1:place></st1:City>
noun hierarchy). I view this work as being very <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>a posteriori</span></i>. Robert Amsler recently expressed his
enthusiasm for Google n-grams as being useful identifying component elements of
noun compounds, likening this to analyzing chemical compounds into their
component elements and binding properties. Thus, I hope we don't take John's
words to stifle the hunt for semantic primitives (look at the billions in the
hunt for the Higgs boson).</font></tt><br>
<br>
<tt><font face="Courier New">I have an expanded version of this note at my <a
href="http://www.clres.com/blog/?p=172">blog</a>, where I provide further links
to salient materials.</font></tt><br>
<br>
<tt><font face="Courier New"> Ken</font></tt><br>
<br>
</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<pre><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>-- <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Ken Litkowski TEL.: 301-482-0237<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>CL Research EMAIL: <a
href="mailto:ken@clres.com">ken@clres.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>9208 Gue Road Home Page: <a
href="http://www.clres.com">http://www.clres.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>Damascus</span></font></st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">MD</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">20872-1025</st1:PostalCode> <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place> Blog: <a
href="http://www.clres.com/blog">http://www.clres.com/blog</a><o:p></o:p></pre></div>
</body>
</html>