Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Investigation could recover the paradigm for
stood for
, although the
number of senses may be indeterminate and open to different imposed
meaningful orders (for instance, by historical development or frequency
of occurrence of different senses distinguished). Different surrounding
syntagmatic sequences for
stood for
could compel similar or dissimilar
selections. Sequences might be difficult to divide into mutually exclusive
groups, demanding different choices: for example, what substitutions for
college widow
and
something
or for
she
and
for plenty
could compel sim-
ilar or dissimilar selections from the paradigm as an association of signi-
ieds for
stood for
? Even a mechanistic simplification and objectification
of the process of selection—where the horizontal axis of the syntagma
determines choice from the vertical paradigm—reveals a complex and
computationally intractable process (see table 8.1). Even with a restricted
example, human understanding of language appears to exceed logical
and computational form—and is not necessarily reducible to such form—
although human understandings can still create logical products.
A paradigm for
stood for
could be deliberately constructed by drawing
on mental representations and associations in individual memory, while
recognizing that these representations are historically and socially con-
structed, by drawing on reference sources, such as dictionaries, and on the
collections of syntagmas derived from sources covered by Internet search
engines. A historical perspective on the possibility of reconstructing
the paradigm from external sources would reveal continuities and con-
trasts: continuities in forms of signification and contrasts in the type and
quantity of direct human labor needed to recover the paradigm. Current
information technologies, including Internet search engines, offer greatly
Table 8.1
Choice of signifieds for the term
stood for
Syntagma
Lexicon
1
Lexicon
2
stood for
Lexicon
3
Lexicon
4
Drawn from
Lexicon
l..n
Paradigm
for
selection
of senses
for stood
for, sd
l..n
Drawn from
Lexicon
l..n
