POSER@SU-CSLI.ARPA (09/29/84)
From: Bill Poser <POSER@SU-CSLI.ARPA>
I would like to hear more about the language mentioned by
briggs@riacs as a natural language suitable for use as an MT
interlanguage. Specifically, what is it called and where is
it documented? Where did he publish his demonstration that
it is equivalent to certain kinds of semantic nets?
I would also be interested to hear in what sense he means that
it is a natural language. Virtually all known natural languages
are ambiguous, in the sense that they contain sentences that are
ambiguous, but that does not mean that they cannot be used unambiguously.
An example is the use of English in mathematical writing-it is
possible to avoid ambiguity entirely by careful choice of syntax
and avoidance of anaphora. I wonder whether briggs' language is not
of the same sort-a natural language used in a specialized and restricted
way.
Bill Poser
(poser@su-csli,poser@su-russell)