I have no idea what you are talking about. Please explain.

Gerry wrote:
Without a beginning and end, your metrics turn into a semantic debate.
 
Gerry
----- Original Message -----
From: H.M. Hubey
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Re: replacement rates

Our problem is not that difficult.

tgpedersen wrote:
--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, "H.M. Hubey" <hubeyh@...> wrote:
> I am not sure I understand. I am only discussing creating a
semantics
> metric for a short
> list of words. I only suggest that the short list size be a power
of 2
> so that we can use
> binary/boolean concepts.  Any list has to be  finite in order to be
> useful. We cannot
> handle infinity.
>
> Geraldine Reinhardt wrote:
>
> > Sorry.  I'm not clear as to how you will deliniate your "Hubey"
list. 
> > If there is no final number,  then the list should exist
> > for infinity?  Right?
> > 
> > Gerry
> >
> >     ----- Original Message -----
> >     From: H.M. Hubey <mailto:hubeyh@...>
> >     To: Nostratica@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
> >     Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 4:48 PM
> >     Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Re: replacement rates
> >
> >     No final number. This will work for something like the Swadesh
> >     list. There are other
> >     ways to get semantic distances from dictionaries. I would be
> >     interesting to compare
> >     them after they have been worked out.
> >
> >     Geraldine Reinhardt wrote:
> >
> >>     Interesting.  Does that leave the final number at infinity
(in
> >>     the power of 2)?
> >>     
> >>     Gerry
> >>
> >>         ----- Original Message -----
> >>         From: H.M. Hubey <mailto:hubeyh@...>
> >>         To: Nostratica@yahoogroups.com
> >>         <mailto:Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
> >>         Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 9:51 AM
> >>         Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Re: replacement rates
> >>
> >>         IT would have to be in powers of 2. I got started on 32
> >>         already. We can double it
> >>         to 64, then  128. We'd have to add 28 more to Swadesh
100.
> >>         Then we can double to
> >>         256, and we only need 28 more for that.
> >>
> >>         Gerry wrote:
> >>
> >>>         Most interesting.  Yet based on Boolean ideas, how many
> >>>         words would be contained in renovating the Swadesh list?
> >>>         
> >>>         Gerry
> >>>
> >>>             ----- Original Message -----
> >>>             From: H.M. Hubey <mailto:hubeyh@...>
> >>>             To: Nostratica@yahoogroups.com
> >>>             <mailto:Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
> >>>             Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 6:01 AM
> >>>             Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Re: replacement rates
> >>>
> >>>             There is a shorter way. We can start with a subset
of
> >>>             the Swadesh list. Yakhontov
> >>>             already has a shorter version which has 35 words. A
> >>>             simple metric should probably
> >>>             be based on Boolean ideas. 32 is a good number
since it
> >>>             is a power of 2. I already
> >>>             got started but haven't had time to pay attention
to it.
> >>>             If anyone is interested, we can
> >>>             collaborate.
> >>>
> >>>             tgpedersen wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>             --- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, "H.M. Hubey"
> >>>>             <hubeyh@...> wrote:
> >>>>             >
> >>>>             >
> >>>>             >
> >>>>             >
> >>>>             > I think what linguistics needs is a "semantic
> >>>>             metric". I know how
> >>>>             to
> >>>>             > derive at least two different
> >>>>             > ones from data but need time and money :-) I
think
> >>>>             all linguists
> >>>>             should
> >>>>             > appreciate the need for
> >>>>             > semantic metrics. It does not matter how many.
That
> >>>>             could always be
> >>>>             > worked out, fixed,
> >>>>             > repaired, improved etc. The trick is to get
going.
> >>>>             >
> >>>>             That would require us to know some canonical
> >>>>             development of a
> >>>>             canonical set of concepts. That is a tall order.
> >>>>
> >>>>             Torsten


If you are serious about your semantics metrics, I recommend you read
some of Doug Lenat's articles on his program "Eurisko", a program
that built a conceptual world from axioms of set theory until it ran
into computational difficulties constructing prime number theory. It
will give you a perspective on the problems at hand. They can be
found in the journal "Artifical Intelligence" some time in the early
eighties.

Torsten



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-- 
M. Hubey
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The only difference between humans and machines is that humans
can be created by unskilled labor. Arthur C. Clarke

/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/ http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey



To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Nostratica-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

-- 
M. Hubey
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The only difference between humans and machines is that humans
can be created by unskilled labor. Arthur C. Clarke

/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/ http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey