Changes

=====5.1.2.8. The Formative Tension=====

=====5.1.2.8. The Formative Tension=====

A lassie all alone, was making her moan

| colspan="2" | A lassie all alone, was making her moan

Lamenting our lads beyond the sea:

"In the bluidy wars they fa', and our honor's gane an a',

| width="5%"  |   || Lamenting our lads beyond the sea: —

And broken hearted we maun die."

Robert Burns, As I Stood by Yon Roofless Tower, [CPW, 570]

| colspan="2" | “In the bluidy wars they fa', and our honor's gane an a',

| width="5%"  |   || And broken hearted we maun die.”

| colspan="2" align="right" | — Robert Burns, ''As I Stood by Yon Roofless Tower'', [CPW, 570]

An incidental purpose of this reconnaissance is to point out the more problematic features of interpretation, and especially the properties of sign comprehension that are observed to be salient in natural settings.  It is these more problematic aspects of interpretation that ultimately place the greatest demands on "artificial intelligence research" (AIR), at any rate, if it is going to support an understanding of the ways that human beings use real languages in real practice, or if it is ever going to supply a medium for modeling the ways that human beings develop an ability to produce and to understand real texts.

An incidental purpose of this reconnaissance is to point out the more problematic features of interpretation, and especially the properties of sign comprehension that are observed to be salient in natural settings.  It is these more problematic aspects of interpretation that ultimately place the greatest demands on artificial intelligence research, at any rate, if it is going to support an understanding of the ways that human beings use real languages in real practice, or if it is ever going to supply a medium for modeling the ways that human beings develop an ability to produce and to understand real texts.

I am sensitive to the possibility that there are many features in the situation of the present inquiry, perhaps due solely to my description, that make it appear like an artificial, an implausible, or a specialized set of circumstances.  I begin by discussing a number of these features, after which I argue that they are really quite typical of any situation where one has to interpret a problematic text in a problematic language.  A text or a language is "problematic", of course, only in relation to a prospective interpreter.  To clarify this sense of the word "problematic" it helps to introduce the following definitions.

I am sensitive to the possibility that there are many features in the situation of the present inquiry, perhaps due solely to my description, that make it appear like an artificial, an implausible, or a specialized set of circumstances.  I begin by discussing a number of these features, after which I argue that they are really quite typical of any situation where one has to interpret a problematic text in a problematic language.  A text or a language is ''problematic'', of course, only in relation to a prospective interpreter.  To clarify this sense of the word "problematic" it helps to introduce the following definitions.

1. A "fully interpretive language" (FIL) is one whose attributes are fully filled out in all three directions of natural language use, to wit, along syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic dimensions.

1. A "fully interpretive language" (FIL) is one whose attributes are fully filled out in all three directions of natural language use, to wit, along syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic dimensions.