Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdahl!kp
From: kp@uts.amdahl.com (Ken Presting)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Language Acquisition (was: Machines *CAN* think!)
Summary: Context is indispensable in Radical Interpretation
Message-ID: <66tJ025u9b3u01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Date: 10 Apr 90 18:04:01 GMT
References: <370@ntpdvp1.UUCP> <7221@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Reply-To: kp@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Ken Presting)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 38

In article <7221@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) writes:
>From article <370@ntpdvp1.UUCP>, by sandyz@ntpdvp1.UUCP (Sandy Zinn):
>>
>>The Balinese have a very elaborate system of social interchange which
>>regulates word usage based on whom the person will be talking to.  ...
>>Sentences as words-strung-together-according-to-syntax is too simplistic
>>a conception of language, in my view. ...
>
>So if you're interested in conversations rather than just sentences,
>make that conversations as words-strung-together-according-to-syntax.
>By noting that sentence syntax does not in itself suffice to describe
>conversations, you have not shown that describing conversations requires
>bringing in non-syntactic principles that were not required for
>sentences.

I agree with Greg about the potential of applying syntax to structures
larger than the sentence, but that will not be enough.

The Balinese example shows that a variety of syntactical principles are
available for use by the speakers, and that the choice of one or the
other is determined non-linguistic information about the context.

The point can be strengthened by noting the role of the context of an
utterance in Davidson's radical interpretation.  On one hand, it is
clearlytrue that the syntax of a language can be specified independently
of its semantics and pragmatics.  On the other, it is equally clear that
when the linguistic behavior of a population is studied, syntactic,
semantic, and pragmatic features of the language are observed
simultaneously with the practical exigencies of non-linguistic life.

The data which supports a particular syntactic theory for a language may
be based exclusively on sentence-acceptance, or conversation-acceptance.
But for the investigator to be able to put his questions to the native
speakers, their language must be learned, which requires a context
dependent radical interpretation.


Ken Presting