[topicmapmail] Conceptual Graphs are Step 6

[Thomas B. Passin]

Murray Altheim wrote:

> Thomas B. Passin wrote:
> 
>>> I agree, except CGs really do not *translate* NL.  They *express* 
>>> assertions in predicate calculus about the role players that fill 
>>> verb-specific association templates based on case frames.
>>
>>
>> Yes, but let me quote what Sowa says in his "knowledge Representation"
>> book (I just found these passages today) -
>>
>> (p. 41) "Since textbooks use natural languages to define everything in
>> mathematics, the FOL translations of natural language must also be
>> sufficient to define all of mathematics."
>>
>> and
>>
>> (p. 14) "When the graph is translated to predicate logic, ..."
>>
>> I consider this to be good authority for using the word "translate" in
>> this context.
> 
> 
> This is a leap of intuition or faith, and has no grounds in actual
> practice. Yes, *of course* everything we know is expressed in natural
> language, but that hardly justifies belief in a straightforward
> "translation" being either possible or the result being reasonable
> (in both senses of the word). 

I didn't say "straightforward", though!

> I think John sometimes waxes too
> optimistic, tending to gloss over the actual difficulties, e.g.,
> yes, theoretically possible, no, never done before. His latest
> is Common Logic Controlled English (CLCE), which is a declarative
> language for expressing statements in an English-like syntax:
> 
> I have no means of evaluating the efficacy of this approach, other
> than to express some skepticism over people's willingness to use it,
> especially since it is Anglocentric. 

After John started posting insistently about controlled languages, I 
went on a bit of a search on the Web.  So far as I could make out, most 
attempts to promote controlled languages have not succeeded very well in 
practice, Attempto notwithstanding.  The reason seems to have been that 
it is very hard for most people to create valid sentences in the 
controlled language, and to validate them to see if they are correct. 
It's one thing to read one and get its sense, and another to create one, 
apparently.

If this is a correct assessment, I have to be sceptical about the 
practical utility of controlled languages.  However, that is just the 
result of one session of web searching by one non-expert, so it is 
hardly definitive.

Cheers,

Tom P