Skip to content

CoreNAL [SUSPENDED]

Jump to bottom
agnostic-workspace edited this page Jul 21, 2022 · 1 revision

Core Natural Agnostic Language

THIS IS SUSPENDED. NICE BASE IDEAS. WRONG PATH TAKEN.

CoreNAL is a conlang designed specifically for this project.

There's a gap between natural languages and programming languages, and this gap can host several kinds of new languages. For example, controlled languages like Attempto Controlled English, or the language used in the interactive fiction engine Inform7, already fill this gap. So what does CoreNAL bring to the table?

  • It doesn't try to feel natural for humans at all cost. Instead, it tries to be natural for any agent, computers, aliens, angels, cats, you name it. Wait, no cats.
  • It is readable and writeable by humans.
  • The grammar/syntax fits on a postcard. It is prefix notation all the way down, VSO.
  • The vocabulary is
    • based on Natural Semantic Metalanguage, NSM4 65-words version 2022,
    • constructed by concatenating Elefen words (ex: ESITUA, be somewhere),
    • unambiguous, ontologically & logically clear.

Why cats

The truth is NSM is entangled in human cultures. Why would "people" be a prime, if the speaker is not human? Communication is not a human thing. Aliens in a distant galaxy (or cats in a distant future) would communicate, and then NSM would be different. Why should we care? Because we're currently teaching programs how to think, and there's no way a program can experience what it's like to be human.

Why a conlang

  1. You don't get away with English, especially if you're Imprisonned in English, and think that we need to "reach a more universal, culture-independent perspective on things".

  2. A conlang lets you build words without ambiguity, without overloading, without polysemy, ready to be grounded in direct subjective experience.

Why Elefen

Being an a posteriori language, based on Mediterranean languages, LFN feels like a comfortable and familiar "cradle" language. It is richer and more capable than Toki Pona, less ugly and awkward than Lojban.

Primes dot filter dot convert dot concatenate

I am not working on NSM primes, saying the list is wrong or something. I'm not working on it for decades, I'm not an expert, and my goal is different anyway. I just need to adapt this to my own work. This means filtering the primes, converting them into something I can use, and probably add a few ones.

Adaptation

CoreNAL is meant to be a language for programs. Hence,

  • It must be universal, where "universal" means "whole universe" rather than "whole mankind",
  • It must be mathematically defined,
  • It must be grounded in a program's subjective experience.

My primes need to be typed. They take arguments, and these arguments should have types.

Their meaning can be "kept fuzzy", as long as they are associated with a determined calculation method.

Generally speaking, "humans" become "agents". Agents are things that CAN and that DO. Agents can be animals, humans, or programs.

When 2 Elefen words are concatenated, if the end of the first word is the same as beginning of the second word, we merge them, like this:

  • MULTE + TEMPO = MULTEMPO

Polysemy is avoided by creating special words. For example BE (SOMEWHERE) and BE (SOMETHING/SOMEONE) would both be turned into the word ES of Elefen. This isn't satisfactory, so two words are created, ESITUA (ES+SITUA) and ESIDENTIA (ES+IDENTIA) to avoid ambiguity, and ease parsing/programming.

Types

  • Cosa (thing)
    • Dato (datum)
      • Clase (type)
      • Frase (sentence, expression)
      • Cuantia (quantity, count)
      • Grandia (size)
      • Evalua (good/bad evaluation)
      • Veria (true/false, boolean)
      • Identia (identity)
    • Ajente (agent)
    • Loca (location)
    • Momento (moment)
    • Ves (occurence)
    • Longia (duration)
    • Aveni (event)
      • Ata (action)

Primes conversion

  • Substantive words
    • Subject/deictic
      • NSM version: I~ME, YOU
      • CoreNAL: ME, TU
    • Subject/some
      • NSM version: SOMEONE
      • CoreNAL: ALGAJENTE
    • Object/some
      • NSM version: SOMETHING~THING
      • CoreNAL: COSA
      • Comment: Should disappear because we need typed stuff.
    • Subject/all
      • NSM version: PEOPLE
      • CoreNAL: AJENTES
    • Partonomy
      • NSM version: PART
      • CoreNAL: PARTEDE
      • Comment: Unsure about type and usage.
    • Taxonomy
      • NSM version: KIND
      • CoreNAL: CLASEDE
      • Comment: Needs genls/isa distinction.
    • Embodiment
      • NSM version: BODY
      • CoreNAL: REALI
      • Comment: Unclear. I suppose a running program would be the embodiment of its source code. The perceived would be the embodiment of the percept.
  • Determiners
    • Reference/modifier
      • NSM version: THIS
      • CoreNAL: ESTA
      • Comment: Modifier version, must be applied to a substantive.
    • Reference/stand-alone
      • NSM version: THIS
      • CoreNAL: ESTACOSA
      • Comment: Stand-alone version, points to what we're talking about.
    • Similarity
      • NSM version: THE SAME
      • CoreNAL: MESMA
    • Distinction
      • NSM version: OTHER~ELSE
      • CoreNAL: OTRA
    • Count
      • NSM version: ONE
      • CoreNAL: UN
    • Count
      • NSM version: TWO
      • CoreNAL: DU
    • Selection
      • NSM version: MUCH~MANY
      • CoreNAL: MULTE
    • Selection
      • NSM version: LITTLE~FEW
      • CoreNAL: POCA
    • Selection
      • NSM version: SOME
      • CoreNAL: ALGA
    • Selection
      • NSM version: ALL
      • CoreNAL: TOTA
  • Descriptors
    • Evaluation
      • NSM version: GOOD
      • CoreNAL: BONA
    • Evaluation
      • NSM version: BAD
      • CoreNAL: MAL
    • Size
      • NSM version: BIG
      • CoreNAL: GRANDE
    • Size
      • NSM version: SMALL
      • CoreNAL: PETI
  • Mental
    • Processing
      • NSM version: THINK
      • CoreNAL: PENSA
      • Comment: For a program, calculating is thinking.
    • Knowledge
      • NSM version: KNOW
      • CoreNAL: SABE
    • Desire
      • NSM version: WANT
      • CoreNAL: VOLESTENDE
    • Desire
      • NSM version: DON'T WANT
      • CoreNAL: VOLEVITA
      • Comment: This is not the absence of desire to reach, this is the presence of desire to avoid.
    • Internal perception
      • NSM version: FEEL
      • CoreNAL: SENTI
      • Comment: This is interoception only.
    • External perception
      • NSM version: SEE, HEAR
      • CoreNAL: SENSA
      • Comment: A program has an input, no matter what.
  • Communication
    • Expression
      • NSM version: SAY
      • CoreNAL: ESPRESA
      • Comment: The NSM prime SAY is also used to communicate with gesture or tone of voice, so we're using "express" instead of "say".
    • Content
      • NSM version: WORDS
      • CoreNAL: DATOS
      • Comment: We're using "data" instead of words, since it can be anything.
    • Truth
      • NSM version: TRUE
      • CoreNAL: VERA
  • Dynamic
    • Event
      • NSM version: HAPPEN
      • CoreNAL: AVENI
    • Action
      • NSM version: DO
      • CoreNAL: FA
    • Movement
      • NSM version: MOVE
      • CoreNAL: MOVE
      • Comment: This one will clearly need a little love.
  • State
    • Situation
      • NSM version: BE (SOMEWHERE), BE (WITH)
      • CoreNAL: ESITUA
      • Comment: Broadly situates something in its surroundings.
    • Identity
      • NSM version: BE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING)
      • CoreNAL: ESIDENTIA
    • Existence
      • NSM version: THERE IS
      • CoreNAL: ONAVE
  • Possession
    • Alienable possession
      • NSM version: (IS) MINE
      • CoreNAL: none
      • Comment: This one just doesn't make it through. Alienable possession is not some essential universal notion, but a complex human construct.
  • Life & death
    • Activity
      • NSM version: LIVE
      • CoreNAL: ATIVA
      • Comment: Life is what separates agents from objects. ATIVA means "is an active agent".
    • Superstition
      • NSM version: DIE
      • CoreNAL: none
      • Comment: The idea that "DIE represents a deeper and more existential event than simply coming to the end of one’s life [...]", which would be "necessary to provide ingredients for various notions of life after death", smells like a really complex human construct.
  • Time
    • Localization
      • NSM version: TIME~WHEN
      • CoreNAL: none
      • Comment: Welcome to the fuzzeria.
    • Localization
      • NSM version: TIME
      • CoreNAL: VES
      • Comment: Like in "the next time it happens", or "every time".
    • Localization
      • NSM version: TIME
      • CoreNAL: MOMENTO
      • Comment: Like in "they arrived at the same time".
    • Duration
      • NSM version: TIME
      • CoreNAL: TEMPO
      • Comment: Like in "how much time does it take".
    • Deictic
      • NSM version: NOW
      • CoreNAL: AORA
    • Converses
      • NSM version: BEFORE
      • CoreNAL: ANTE
    • Converses
      • NSM version: AFTER
      • CoreNAL: POS
    • Duration
      • NSM version: A LONG TIME
      • CoreNAL: MULTEMPO
      • Comment: Compared to what? Appears to be compound (big+duration). Might be deleted.
    • Duration
      • NSM version: A SHORT TIME
      • CoreNAL: POCATEMPO
      • Comment: Compared to what? Appears to be compound (small+duration). Might be deleted.
  • Space
    • Localization
      • NSM version: PLACE~WHERE
      • CoreNAL: LOCA
      • Comment: For a program, that would be locations in a file system, in variables, or on the internet.
    • Deictic
      • NSM version: HERE
      • CoreNAL: ASI
    • Converses
      • NSM version: ABOVE
      • CoreNAL: SUPRA
      • Comment: Parent node is "above" its children in a tree.
    • Converses
      • NSM version: BELOW
      • CoreNAL: SU
      • Comment: Child node is "below" its ancestors in a tree.
    • Distance
      • NSM version: FAR
      • CoreNAL: none
      • Comment: Makes sense for a human, not for a program.
    • Distance
      • NSM version: NEAR
      • CoreNAL: none
      • Comment: Makes sense for a human, not for a program.
    • Containment
      • NSM version: INSIDE
      • CoreNAL: AINTERNA
    • Contact
      • NSM version: TOUCH
      • CoreNAL: ASEDE
      • Comment: TOUCH is for a human, here we're talking about r/w "access".
  • Logic
    • Negation
      • NSM version: NOT
      • CoreNAL: NO
    • Capability
      • NSM version: CAN
      • CoreNAL: POTE
    • Possibility
      • NSM version: MAYBE
      • CoreNAL: CISA
    • Condition
      • NSM version: IF
      • CoreNAL: SI
    • Causation
      • NSM version: BECAUSE
      • CoreNAL: CAR
    • Intensification
      • NSM version: VERY
      • CoreNAL: MULTE
    • Augmentation
      • NSM version: MORE
      • CoreNAL: PLU
    • Similarity
      • NSM version: LIKE
      • CoreNAL: COMO

Syntax draft


someone thinks (something good/bad) about something

    PENSA <Ajente> EVALUA <Evalua> <Cosa>

someone thinks like this: "--"

    PENSA <Ajente> COMO <Testo>

someone thinks that (...)

    PENSA <Ajente> <Frase>

someone knows something
someone knows that (...)

    SABE <Ajente> <Frase>

someone knows something about something

    SABE <Ajente> SUR <Dato> <Cosa>

someone knows when/where/who/what/why (...)

    SABE <Ajente> CUANDO <Frase>
    SABE <Ajente> DO <Frase>
    SABE <Ajente> CI <Frase>
    SABE <Ajente> CUAL <Frase>
    SABE <Ajente> PERCE <Frase>

someone wants something

    VOLESTENDE <Ajente> <Frase>

someone wants to do/know/... something

    VOLESTENDE <Ajente> FA ERE <Ata>
    VOLESTENDE <Ajente> SABE ERE <Frase>
    ...

someone wants someone to do/know/... something

    VOLESTENDE <Ajente> FA <Ajente> <Ata>
    VOLESTENDE <Ajente> SABE <Ajente> <Frase>
    ...

someone wants something to happen

    VOLESTENDE <Ajente> AVENI <Aveni>

idem
    VOLEVITA

someone feels (something good/bad) (in part of the body)

    SENTI <Ajente> <Evalua>

someone feels like this: "--"

    SENTI <Ajente> COMO <Testo>

someone sees/hears something

    SENSA <Ajente> <Dato>

someone says something

    ESPRESA <Ajente> <Frase>

someone says something to someone

    ESPRESA <Ajente> A <Ajente> <Frase>

someone says (something good/bad) about something

    ESPRESA <Ajente> EVALUA <Evalua> <Cosa>

someone says something like this: "--"

    ESPRESA <Ajente> COMO <Testo>

someone says something using something

    ESPRESA <Ajente> PAR <Frase> <Cosa>

something happens

    AVENI <Aveni>

something happens to someone/something

    AVENI A <Cosa> <Aveni>

something happens in a place

    AVENI EN <Loca> <Aveni>

someone does something

    FA <Ajente> <Ata>

someone does something to something

    FA <Ajente> A <Ata> <Ajente>

someone does something using something

    FA <Ajente> PAR <Ata> <Cosa>

someone does something with someone

    FA CON <Ajente> <Ajente> <Ata>

someone does (something good/bad) to someone

    FA <Ajente> EVALUA <Evalua> <Ajente>

someone moves in (some place)

    MOVE <Ajente> <Loca>

something is like something

    ESIDENTIA <Cosa> COMO <Cosa>

something is big/small

    ESIDENTIA <Cosa> GRANDIA <Grandia>

something is of (some kind)

    ESIDENTIA <Cosa> CLASE <Clase>

someone is who

    ESIDENTIA <Ajente> CI

something is in (some place)

    ESITUA <Cosa> <Loca>

someone is with someone

    ESITUA <Ajente> CON <Ajente>

there is something in (some place)

    ONAVE ESITUA <Cosa> <Loca>

there are (N) kinds of (some type)

    ONAVE CONTA <Cuantia> CLASE <Clase>

someone touches something

    ASEDE <Ajente> <Cosa>

someone can do something

    POTE <Ajente> <Ata>

someone must do something

    NO NO POTE <Ajente> <Ata>

(something good/bad) can happen

    POTE <Evalua> AVENI ERE

150 Sentences draft


SOMEONE~WHO, SOMETHING~THING~WHAT, PEOPLE, BODY

1. Who did it?

    FA CI LO

2. Someone took (ate, broke, etc.) it. I don’t know who.

    (ata1) ALGAJENTE LO. NO SABE ME CI

3. What happened?

    AVENI CUAL

4. I did something bad.

    FA ME MAL COSA

5. What is this?

    ESIDENTIA ESTACOSA CUAL

6. This thing is big/small.

    ESIDENTIA ESTA COSA PETI
    ESIDENTIA ESTA COSA GRANDE

7. They are good people.

    ESIDENTIA LOS BONA AJENTE

8. Many people don’t know this.

    NO SABE MULTE AJENTE ESTACOSA

9. Sometimes bad things happen to (good) people.

    AVESES AVENI MAL COSA BONA AJENTE

10. The body of a man is not like the body of a woman.

    NO ESIDENTIA (cosa1) COMO (cosa2)

11. The stomach (liver, etc.) is part of people’s bodies, it is inside the body.

    ESIDENTIA (cosa1) PARTEDE (cosa2)
    ESITUA (cosa1) AINTERNA (cosa2)



PARTS, KINDS

12. This thing (knife, axe, etc.) has two parts.

    ONAVE CONTA DU PARTEDE ESTA COSA

13. People’s (human) bodies have many parts. 
14. There are two/many kinds of yam (bat, bird, etc.).
15. It looks like the same kind (of fish, bird, etc.). But it’s not. It’s another kind
16. There is (only) one kind of fish in this lake (one kind of bird in this forest, etc.)

THIS, THE SAME, OTHER~ELSE

17. This is good/bad.
18. This is a big/small basket (knife, bowl, etc.).
19. (I saw) these two people; all these people.
20. I saw the same person (or: the same people) the day after.
21. It happened at the same place/time, not at another place/time.
22. She did/said the same (the same thing).
23. Someone else did it.

ONE, TWO, SOME, ALL, MANY~MUCH, LITTLE~FEW

24. How many children does she have?
25. She has one child (two/many children).
26. How much water is there (in that well, bowl, etc.)?
27. There is much (little, very little) water here.
28. Many (or: not many) people live here.
29. (There were many people there.) After that, one/two (of them) left.
30. Some of these yams (lemons, etc.) are good, some are rotten.
31. In some places there are lots of fish (rabbits, birds, etc.).
32. There is water here.
33. Very few people live there now.
34. Many of them went to the east, some went to the west.
35. All his sons (daughters, etc.) are now married. 
36. The fire burnt everything (e.g. in the house, on the island).

GOOD, BAD 

37. Good people don’t do things like this.
38. This was good/bad for me.
39. It is good/bad if someone (or: people) does something like this. 
40. I know this person/place well.
41. Some people can do this well, some people can’t.

THINK, KNOW, WANT, DON’T WANT

42. What are you thinking about?
43. I thought about it for a long time.
44. This person thinks something bad about me.
45. I thought like this: “ – – ”
46. Think well about it first (before you do it).
47. (Where is he now?) I don’t know. Maybe Mary knows.
48. He knows much (a lot) about things like this.
49. (She left yesterday). I know. 
50. I want (don’t want) you to do it.
51. I want (don’t want) this to happen.

FEEL, SEE, HEAR

52. When you look at the stars at night, what do you feel?
53. When I swallow (something), I feel something very bad in my throat. 
54. At that time (then), I didn’t feel anything.
55. I don’t feel anything bad towards him anymore.
56. I saw something (a dog, bird, etc.) there.
57. (After that), I saw something else.
58. She was singing – I heard it.
59. I hear something (over there in the bushes).
60. I couldn’t hear it.

SAY, WORDS, TRUE

61. ‘This is good’, I said.
62. What did he say?
63. He said something to her, but she didn’t hear it.
64. If I do this, people can say bad things about me.
65. She said the same (the same thing), but in other (i.e. different) words.
66. In language X, the word for ‘good’ is palya.
67. If you say one more word, ....
68. That’s not true.

DO, HAPPEN, MOVE, TOUCH

69. What did you do then (after that)?
70. Those people did something good for me.
71. What do people do with things like this (a spoon, needle, etc.)?
72. People do this with a knife (axe, stick, etc.).
73. Something good/bad happened to this person (to me).
74. At that moment, something happened inside him.
75. Something bad happened in that place.
76. (Look!) Something is moving over there.
77. Don’t move! (e.g. while putting on a bandaid or removing headlice)
78. I was very scared. I couldn’t move.
79. Something was touching my hand. 
80. Don’t touch it! (It’s hot.)

THERE IS, (IS) MINE

81. There is someone in the garden. 
82. There is/are no [e.g. water/spiders] here.
83. There are no ghosts (unicorns, etc.).
84. There are many kinds of nuts (yams, bats, etc.).
85. It’s mine. 
86. It’s not yours. It’s mine. 
87. I know it’s not mine. I want it to be mine. 

BE (SOMEWHERE), BE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING)

88. What is on the table? I can’t see it.
89. I want to be with my mother (grandfather, father, etc.).
90. It was a long time ago. My father was a child at that time.
91. I don’t know what this is.
92. I don’t know who this is.

LIVE, DIE

93. [In story of olden days] These people lived for a long time.
94. Turtles (horses, whales, etc.) live for a long time.
95. At that time she was living with her mother.
96. Fish live in the sea.
97. All people die.
98. These people died a long time ago.

TIME~WHEN, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME, A SHORT TIME, FOR SOME TIME, IN ONE MOMENT

99. When did you do it? I did it when everyone was asleep.
100. I don’t know when it happened.
101. At the same time, something happened to me.
102. Sometimes I drink coffee in the morning, sometimes I drink tea.
103. This dog always barks at night.
104. They live in X now. They lived in Y before (this).
105. It happened beforehand/afterwards.
106. John was born before/after Harry (was born).
107. This happened a long time ago.
108. He was only there for a short time, but she was there for a long time.
109. She thought about it for some time.
110. It happened some time ago (i.e. some time before).
111. It happened in one moment.

PLACE~WHERE, HERE, NEAR, FAR, ABOVE, BELOW, ON (THIS) SIDE, INSIDE

112. Where is he now?
113. It didn’t happen here. It happened somewhere else (in another place).
114. Is it far from here?
115. Was Fred standing (sitting, etc.) near John?
116. The house (camp, etc.) is near the river.
117. It is far above the ground. 
118. The head is above other parts of the body.
119. The feet are below other parts of the body.
120. John is now [standing/sitting] on this side (of me).
121. Mary was [standing/sitting] on my right-hand side, Sally was on my left-hand side.
122. They live on the other side of the river (mountain, etc.)
123. There were people standing on both sides of the road.
124. There is an insect inside this [e.g. walnut, apple].
125. Don’t open it. You don’t know what is inside.
126. Some people were in front of the house, others were inside.

BECAUSE, IF, MAYBE, CAN 

127. There was a lot of noise (shouting, etc.). Because of this, I couldn’t sleep.
128. Why are you crying? Because he hit me.
129. If someone does this, something very bad can happen to people here.
130. Maybe he will come tomorrow, maybe he won’t (come tomorrow). 
131. I can’t do it now, maybe my brother (friend, etc.) can.
132. I can’t do it now, but I can do it later.
133. I can’t not do it (i.e. I have to do it).
134. I can’t move my fingers (hands, etc.) now.

VERY, MORE

135. It is very good/bad/big/small.
136. This place [e.g. Gundaroo] is very far from here.
137. The stars (moon, etc.) are very very far.
138. When it happened to him, he felt something very very bad.
139. I very much want to do this.
140. More! (e.g. a child crying for food)
141. (I don’t know much about it.) I want to know more.
142. I want to see more.
143. She doesn’t live here anymore.
144. I want one more.

LIKE

145. This child is not like other children.
146. This is like lilac (or: any plant), but it is not lilac.
147. At a time like this; in a place like this.
148. He did it (sang, danced, etc.) like this: ...
149. It happened like this: ...
150. She sang like this: —— [to demonstrate loudness, pitch, voice quality, etc.

Clone this wiki locally