[pandorabots-general] pandorabots-general Digest, Vol 34, Issue 1

Wed Dec 6 16:04:51 PST 2006

If I remember correctly, an Atlantic Monthly editor once wrote that he 
received two to four letters a month from people who were constructing their 
own languages. In my estimation, these languages are divided into three 
classes. 1) Languages developed by small children with an amazing variety of 
grammars. This class also contains languages constructed by adults, as well 
as the natural languages.  2) Esperanto and Controlled English. Esperanto 
was competently developed and is still used to a certain extent especially 
by non-American travelers  in Europe and the Far East. Its growth around the 
first World War was hampered by the French who of course wanted French to 
become the international language. Klingon uses Esperanto's grammar and is 
the only constructed language to gain much of a following. Controlled 
English is a language that is used to program for example automated tellers. 
It has very strict rules which its developers claim will enable humans to 
"talk" via keyboards to computer controlled machines. They have a website 
and are based in Switzerland. 3) Loglan was developed by James Cooke Brown. 
Its grammar has 258 rules which compares with 3000 accepted and another 3000 
supposed grammar rules for English. As Controlled English struggles to talk 
to ATM's, Loglan can be spoken by humans to humans. Humans can speak Loglan 
to machines. Machines can speak to other machines, and machines can speak to 
humans. Brown developed the grammar on computers beginning in 1955, and any 
computer from that date forward can deal with Loglan grammar. No other 
language can say that. Loglan was also developed with volunteers from 
several scientific disciplines. It is a college professor's language. It can 
accommodate the world view of South Sea Islanders, the word order of Latin, 
and Chinese metaphor. It can also be used to speak logically. Loglan was 
developed back when logic seemed more important than it is today. Now logic 
is regarded as only a subset of grammar, but if you need to talk logically, 
Loglan makes talking in that fashion easy, that is, if you understand logic. 
Loglan was developed after a study of native language world views from 
around the world, a review of linguistic studies over the last hundred 
years, and the notational structure of modern symbolic logic. Then this stew 
was given a vocabulary that was to be easily learned by speakers of the 
world's eight principle languages. English, Chinese, Japanese, German, 
Spanish, French, Russian, and Hindi. Through testing using university 
research standards, Loglan is one fifth to one tenth as difficult to learn 
as English. No language is comparable. The grammar of Basic English is 
laughable. Esperanto is better, but really is only a language for travelers. 
The only problem with Loglan is its word building format paints the language 
into a corner. It is on the wrong side of permutations. Multiplying its 
roots by the needed case tag patterns creates a log jam.

Globa is on the right side of the law of permutations. Multiplying the 1000 
roots by the 430 case tag patterns makes 430,000 (not all are useful) 
possible words available. This number includes the the 30,000 words used by 
average users, and with the expansion word list, the 60,000 to 70,000 words 
used by the well educated. Globa is simpler and can be used by Marine 
recruits, yet looses none of the capabilities of regular Loglan. Globa is 
the capable and practical international language. Like Loglan, its 
vocabulary is based on the eight largest languages, its mechanics can mirror 
the world view of even the smallest languages, it is not based on English 
nor is it Euro centric, and it is easy to learn.

Just after World War II, Harold C. Banks, a labor leader, became in sensed 
when a fellow patron in a restaurant spoke in Spanish. Banks beat the man to 
death. He severed no time for this killing. Similar stories have been 
reported in Russia. Launching a new language is not just a matter of having 
a superior product.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <pandorabots-general-request at list.pandorabots.com>
To: <pandorabots-general at list.pandorabots.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 3:00 PM
Subject: pandorabots-general Digest, Vol 34, Issue 1

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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Globa (Websafe Studio)
>   2. Re: Globa (Stanley E. Honour)
>
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 08:17:55 -0800 (PST)
> From: Websafe Studio <websafestudio at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [pandorabots-general] Globa
> To: William Starin <pandorabots-general at list.pandorabots.com>
> Message-ID: <20061205161755.13616.qmail at web33012.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Hi William Starin:
>
> Thnak you very much for your comprehensive reply about the constructed
> language, Globa. It still makes me think of the Esperanto project, and of 
> Basic
> English, the 850-word list developed by Charles Kay Ogden. I wrote a bot 
> based
> on Basic English.
>
> The Whorf hypothesis that language limits thought intrigues me greatly. 
> I've
> considered that on my own from time to time, but never systematized it 
> into a
> full language like Loglan or Globa.
>
> Cheers,
> Websafe
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know.
> Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 12:31:50 -0500
> From: "Stanley E. Honour" <stan at adnamis.org>
> Subject: Re: [pandorabots-general] Globa
> To: <pandorabots-general at list.pandorabots.com>
> Message-ID:
> <B40BF2CEF415BB4ABA64A518264D6BD70C20E3 at serv-anm.adnamis.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Several of the eight hundred pound Gorillas including Microsoft
> and Google are now working on "World Knowledge bases".   The Indexing
> systems for these databases can be considered to be "Constructed
> language".   A key technical issue is how to represent the 'weight' or
> relatedness of things in a reliable manner.  Several private translation
> companies as well as chatbot developers are also now working on W.K.B.s,
> Since storage and CPU power are now abundant.   Who ever develops a
> W.K.B. with accurate and reliable context performance first will have
> achieved one of the major goals of A.I.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pandorabots-general-bounces+stan=adnamis.org at list.pandorabots.com
> [mailto:pandorabots-general-bounces+stan=adnamis.org at list.pandorabots.co
> m] On Behalf Of Websafe Studio
> Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 11:18 AM
> To: William Starin
> Subject: [pandorabots-general] Globa
>
> Hi William Starin:
>
> Thnak you very much for your comprehensive reply about the constructed
> language, Globa. It still makes me think of the Esperanto project, and
> of Basic English, the 850-word list developed by Charles Kay Ogden. I
> wrote a bot based on Basic English.
>
> The Whorf hypothesis that language limits thought intrigues me greatly.
> I've considered that on my own from time to time, but never systematized
> it into a full language like Loglan or Globa.
>
> Cheers,
> Websafe
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ____________
> Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know.
> Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com
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> End of pandorabots-general Digest, Vol 34, Issue 1
> ************************************************** 