Mystery Number Five - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 112

The second orthogonal relation between proplets and core values is estab-
lished by embedding a given core value into different proplet shells. This is
a simple but effective method to enhance the expressive power of the lexicon
of a natural language without having to acquire additional core values. For
example, the core value topic may be used as a noun, a verb, or an adj:

6.6.4 E XAMPLES USING topic IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH

Mary loves a good topic (noun).
Mary topic ed (verb) a flight to Paris.
Mary is a rather topic ish (adj) girl.

The lexical topic proplets used in these contents are defined as follows:

6.6.5 C ORE VALUE topic IN NOUN , VERB , AND ADJ PROPLETS

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

sur: book
noun: book
cat: sn
sem: count sg
fnc:
mdr:
prn:

sur: booked
verb: book
cat: n' a' v
sem: past
fnc:
mdr:
prn:

sur: bookish
adj: book
cat: adn
sem: psv
mdd:
prn:

book = ⇒

Similar examples are red and square ,whichmayalsobeusedasthecore
values of a noun, a verb, and an adj, as in the following contents:

6.6.6 E XAMPLES USING red AND square IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH

Mary preferred the other red (noun).
The rising sun red dened (verb) the sky.
Mary drank red (adj) wine.
Mary's house faces a square (noun).
Mary square d (verb) her account.
Mary bought a square (adj) table.

The lexical methods of using (i) different core (6.6.1) and surface (6.6.2) val-
ues in the same proplet shell and (ii) the same core value in different proplet
shells (6.6.5) are complemented by (iii) the compositional method of syntax
and semantics, resulting in an enormous increase in expressive power. For ex-
ample, in English the core values book, square, and red , embedded into V, N,
and A proplet shells, may be combined as follows: