On Fri, 2008-03-07 at 16:13 +0000, evan.raskob [lists] wrote:
> alex, can you please explain this point further? i feel like you've
> got some specific definitions of "syntax" and "language" in your head
> which i might like to have in mine as well.
By 'language' I mean human-computer interface, in particular a textual
(symbolic) one. By "syntax" I mean the grammar of such a language, the
rules of play as separate from the meaning or semantics.
As I understand it, in his book "conceptual spaces" Gärdenfors sees
meaning (semantics) being represented not within syntax but within a
geometric 'conceptual' space.
I can't really answer better than that, I don't have a grounding in
linguistics so can't really look on this stuff critically, and need to
read more before I understand it properly. But I do like the idea of
meaning in terms of shape, for example the idea that metaphor is the
application of a shape from one domain to another.
alex
Received on Sat Mar 08 2008 - 22:32:16 GMT