John, (01)
What interesting diversity of meanings for such a small kernel of English
verbs! But as a set of primitives, those would relate to basic concepts
only so distinguishable as to separate the classes of words to include, from
the example, run, put and set. I would like to have seen get and share for
reasons of completeness, but those are used far less frequently. (02)
So perhaps the actual conclusion you could have reached is that the
primitive set is very, very small and there are lots of elaborations and
refinements of each kernel concept. (03)
I use about 1,300 words as "frequent words" which include any lexically
distinct item, even punctuation marks, that are actually used in patent
specifications. Put is not in the list, though set and run are. (04)
The issue is one of scope; is there a small enough set of primitives that
can be used to describe the views of a context in English words known to a
person of skill in the art. For that application, the set of "rare words"
that are used in the claims are calculated automatically as those which were
not listed in the frequent words. The number of such rare words in a
typical case is only about twenty to fifty. (05)
So a kernel with twenty to fifty context words - verbs, nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, gerunds, whatever you wish to distinguish from the frequent words,
are needed to construe those claims. (06)
So once more subjectivity burps its loud discontent. (07)
-Rich (08)
Sincerely,
Rich Cooper
EnglishLogicKernel.com
Rich AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
9 4 9 \ 5 2 5 - 5 7 1 2
-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John F. Sowa
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 6:39 PM
To: [ontolog-forum]
Subject: [ontolog-forum] Run, put, and set (09)
Sunday's _New York Times_ had an article about the multiple word senses
of the verb 'run'. According to the OED, that word now has the largest
number of senses of any word in English: 645. In second place is
the verb 'put' with over 400 senses. (010)
In 1928, the record for the OED was held by the verb 'set', which had
over 200 senses in 75 columns of type (when print was the normal means
for distributing dictionaries). But 'set' is now in third place behind
'run' and 'put'. (011)
Since 'run', 'put', and 'set' are among the 2000 defining terms used
for Longman's dictionary, this huge number of word senses raises some
questions about the suitability of considering such words "primitive". (012)
Following is the URL of the article and a few excerpts. (013)
John Sowa
_______________________________________________________________________ (014)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/opinion/29winchester.html (015)
HER birthday: must set plans in motion. Run a bath, put on cologne, set
the table. High anxiety. Run down list: set watch again, put water in
glasses, set flowers. Run to the window - phew! Watch her put a finger
to the doorbell. Such joy! What timing! And just as the sun sets, too! (016)
Thus does an evening beckon, full of pleasantry and promise. But as
described here it notes events in a manner of considerable interest for
the lexicographer. For scattered within the vocabulary of this 54-word
drama are 11 uses of the three most complex verbs in the English
language: "set," "put" and "run." ... (017)
For while in the first edition of the O.E.D., in 1928, that
richest-of-all-words was "set" (75 columns of type, some 200 senses),
the victor in today's rather more frantic and uncongenial world is,
without a doubt, the three-letter word "run." (018)
You might think this word simply means "to go with quick steps on
alternate feet, never having both or (in the case of many animals) all
feet on the ground at the same time." But no such luck: that is merely
sense I.1a, and there are miles to go before the reader of this
particular entry may sleep... (019)
It took Peter Gilliver, the O.E.D. lexicographer working on the letter
R, more than nine months harnessed to the duties of what Samuel Johnson
once called "a harmless drudge" (plus many more months of preparatory
research) to work out what he believes are all the meanings of "run."
And though some of the senses and their derivations try him - Why does a
dressmaker run up a frock? Why run through a varlet with a sword? How
come you run a fence around a field? Why, indeed, run this essay? - Mr.
Gilliver has finally calculated that there are for the verb-form alone
of "run" no fewer than 645 meanings. A record. (020)
But why? The decline of "set" is the more readily explicable. Basically
"I think 'put' killed 'set,' " another lexicographer mused to Mr.
Gilliver in an only-in-Oxford pub chat recently, noting that you now put
a vase on the mantel, rather than set it there, and put words on paper,
not set them. (021)
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